


Rekindle

by Jarl_Deathwolf



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged Up, Aged-Up Character(s), Angst with a Happy Ending, Baking, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Gabriel Agreste is an Asshole, Marichat May, Marichat May 2019, Minor Character Death, Sleepovers, Slow Burn, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-02-15 15:22:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 50,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18672361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jarl_Deathwolf/pseuds/Jarl_Deathwolf
Summary: Its been several years since Adrien graduated from school and in that time he's slowly drifted away from his friends as his father grooms him to inherit the Agreste business. Just when his fate seems locked in place, a chance meeting with an old friend brings a spark back into his life. The trouble is, he's fairly sure that after their last disasterous meeting, Marinette Dupain-Cheng won't want to see Adrien Agreste anytime soon...But, as far as she knows, Chat Noir isn't Adrien.





	1. No Powers

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my contribution to Marichat May! I am thrilled to be taking part in it since it is my favorite side of the love square, and the start of the month celebrating Marichat is about the best birthday gift I can imagine. Chapters will be a bit longer than my usual as well, as a special gift from me to you. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Ducking an errant beam, Adrien swung his baton into Mega Drain. Behind him, he heard it hit a car, killing the engine inside. “You _feline_ up for a fight, metal head?” 

The name was fitting since today’s akuma looked like a poorly put together metal robot slightly bigger than Adrien was, moving on treads. With how slowly it moved and how short its arms were, Adrien was feeling confident even though Ladybug hadn’t arrived yet. And why shouldn’t he? Nearly a decade of being Chat Noir had honed his reflexes and combat power to a fine point. 

“CHAT NOIR WILL SUBMIT HIS MIRACULOUS TO MEGA DRAIN.” 

Adrien winced at the volume. His enhanced senses could be both a blessing and a curse sometimes. “Tell you what.” He paused for dramatic effect. “No.” 

That didn’t seem to be the right choice since Mega Drain began rapid firing beams at him. So far, he’d only seen it hit electronics, but every time they’d immediately shut down. That alone was enough reason for him to avoid getting hit, even if he wasn’t sure that he would actually be affected by the beams. If nothing else, Mega Drain seemed to _think_ something would happen. 

It wasn’t actually that hard to avoid the rays, but it stopped him from getting close to the akuma. Ah well. At least that means he’d get to see Ladybug, itself an increasingly rare event. He suspected that she was going to university, but who knows? He was just glad she hadn’t left Paris and given her miraculous to someone else. Despite all the rejections, he couldn’t bring himself to stop loving her. 

A flash of black hair caught his attention. A sly greeting died on his lips when he realized it wasn’t Ladybug he’d seen but someone he hadn’t laid on eyes on in a couple years - Marinette Dupain-Cheng. His elation at seeing a childhood friend was matched only by the pang of sorrow he felt at what had happened the last time they’d seen each other. They tried to keep in touch, but after their talk on graduation day, life had gotten in the way of their friendship. It really was a shame. He missed having her in his life. 

He ducked under another beam, but his wandering mind had made him less aware of his surroundings. The beam reflected off a metallic object and right back at him. He felt his strength leave his muscles and his limbs become more sluggish. Just as his senses deadened, he realized what had happened - the power his miraculous granted him had been drained- Oh. OH. _That’s_ why he called himself Mega Drain. 

Feeling almost as upset with himself taking that long to realize the meaning of his name as he was mad at getting hit, he ducked into an alleyway. All he had to do was shake off the akuma and he could - theoretically - detransform and recharge. He was thankful that Plagg was able to hold on and keep the Chat Noir suit on. Recharging was easy, but losing his secret identity would be irrecoverable. 

His plan to escape wasn’t going well. Mega Drain was right behind him and the alley reached a dead end. Drawing his baton, he turned to face the akuma, locking his eyes on the single red lensed camera on the akuma’s face.

“YOUR MIRACULOUS IS MINE.” The akuma charged up his beam and Adrien tensed, ready to jump out of the way. He may not have superhuman reflexes, but he still had his training. He just had to wait for…

...A trash can to be shoved roughly onto its head from behind, apparently. Blinking in surprise, he looked past the flailing akuma to see Marinette motioning at him wildly. He took the opportunity for what it was and rushed over to her side, only for her to grab his arm and start running. They’d gotten a fair distance away before they heard a metallic roar. Marinette quickly unlocked the door to an office building and locked the door behind them. 

Hands on her knees, she took a few deep breaths. “That… was a close one.”

“I’ll say.” Adrien took his tail in one hand and began idly twirling it. “What were you doing out during an akuma attack? You don’t strike me as the reporter type.” 

She stood up straight, her breathing now under control. Adrien let himself be impressed - blindsiding akumas and making mad dashes through the streets can be exhausting. She’d kept herself in shape over the years. Crossing her arms, she glared up at him, “You’re welcome, you ungrateful cat.”

That got a laugh out of him. He didn’t remember her being so spunky, but then again, he knows why she was never herself around him, doesn’t he? “Sorry, sorry.” Bowing deeply, one arm held out, he added, “My deepest gratitude. Saving the feline in distress was very noble of you.” She snorted and rolled her eyes, but he pressed on. “And while I do very much appreciate what you’ve done so far, I have one more favor to ask.”

That got her curiosity. “And what’s that?”

“Go away.” He grinned at her shocked expression. His voice softened a little as he added, “Find somewhere safe to hide. I need to recharge and I can’t have you peeking at my secret identity. Besides, I’d feel better knowing such a kind civilian were out of harm’s way.”

She nodded and pointed behind him. “There are bathrooms over there that lock from the inside. I’m going to uh, sneak out the back way.” She started jogging away, and yelled back at him over her shoulder, “Good luck!”

He watched her go until she darted down a hallway. He knew there were more pressing things to be thinking about, but he felt a pang of remorse. Maybe if their last meeting hadn’t gone the way it did, they’d have worked harder to keep in touch. A warning beep sounded from his miraculous, shaking him out of his thoughts. No use dwelling on what might have been. He ran towards the bathrooms Marinette had pointed out, eager to recharge and get back in the fight.

\-------------------------------

Adrien landed in his room with the sun setting behind him. It was a smaller space than his childhood home, but he had to make some concessions if he wanted to be living on his own. Father wouldn’t rent or let him rent his own mansion and Adrien wouldn’t want to even if he did. He’d had more than enough of large, empty spaces for one lifetime already. At least now the empty spaces were smaller. 

“Claws in.”

Plagg emerged from the ring and crash landed on top of his private refrigerator. “Geez, kid. You’re overworking me here! And could you at least _try_ to not eyeball every pretty civilian you come across? Unless this is some weird way of moving on from Ladybug.”

Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose will Plagg opened up his fridge. “First off, I don’t oogle random people. That was _Marinette_. You know? We went to school together.”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember Pigtails alright. Even if the name doesn't match anymore. Real awkward parting words at your graduation.”

His heart was heavy for a moment as he remembered her confession… and how he had to gently reject her. It was the last time they’d seen each other face to face, and he hated the hurt he’d seen in her eyes. But what else could he do? Which brought him to...

“Second - you know I can’t just move on from Ladybug. I’ve tried, you know it as well as I do, but…”

“Blah blah heart blah blah the pain of unrequited love. Yeah, you’ve mentioned it a few hundred times before.” He shoved a wedge of cheese in his mouth and talked around it. “At least you have something in common with Pigtails.”

“I guess we do,” Adrien replied in a sad whisper. 

While they were never the closest of friends, Adrien keenly felt Marinette’s absence in his life. The energy she always had, the confidence she had not only in herself, but in everyone around her. Just being near her was usually enough to get people motivated - something she often took advantage of as class president. The certainty she had in what she wanted to be was something he could really use some of right now. He felt like his life was in a holding pattern, just working for his father while being groomed to take up the management portion of the Agreste business.

But what could he do? While they made a slight effort to keep in touch, he had no idea how she would react to seeing him again, face to face. Has she moved on from him? Did she come to resent him? Who knows? Somehow he doubted that she’d appreciate him showing up on her doorstep. 

While watching Plagg do his absolute best to scarf down an entire wheel of camembert, a smile dawned on his face. While Adrien might not be met eagerly, who wouldn’t love a visit from the local superhero?

“Finish up quick, Plagg. We’re going out tonight.”

While his kwami complained, Adrien pulled up the discord channel the four of them had made to keep in touch. Wading through the conversations - mainly between Alya and Marinette - he eventually found what he was looking for: An address.

\-----------------------------------

Half an hour later, Adrien landed on a balcony that he hoped was Marinette’s. He’d made a detour to buy some sweets to bring over. After all, it was rude to show up unannounced _and_ empty handed. 

The lights were on. He breathed a sigh of relief - that was a good sign. It had become painfully obvious to him that he didn’t know much about how her life was going now when he didn’t even know where she was working, let alone her hours. He peeked into the window to check if she was actually home. 

The room seemed to be some combination of a work space and living room. There was a TV turned down as it played some show that she only glanced at occasionally. A familiar, old chaise, a couch and a couple armchairs, but there was also mannequins, reams of fabrics, and a table littered with pins, sketchbooks, and a sewing machine. Working at the sewing machine was Marinette herself, only occasionally glancing up at the TV from a jacket she was working on. 

Satisfied that she was at least present, he tapped at the glass. Softly at first, but becoming more insistent when it became clear that she was too focused on her work to hear him. Even then it took her a few moments to realize just where the tapping was coming from. It was all worth it though when he saw how her eyes went wide at seeing him at the window. He grinned as she rushed over to the window.

“What are you doing here?! Do you realize how late it is?” She hissed at him. His smile faltered. This wasn’t the reaction he had been expecting.

“Well, I was in a rush earlier, so I couldn’t thank you properly for your help today.” Seeing her dubious expression, he pulled out the big guns and moved his basket of snacks in front of him. “I brought chocolate croissants?” 

She glanced between the basket and him, torn. Just before she was about to speak, her stomach growled. Blushing, she opened the window wide and said, “Quick, get in before I change my mind.”

Adrien didn’t need to be told twice. Slipping inside, he took another look at the room around him, now using all his senses. It was messy, with several projects in various levels of completion scattered around the room. There were a few pictures on the walls, mostly of her and Alya, plus a few older ones from lycee and one from graduation. But nothing recent. His heightened smell backed him up - the only scent he could pick up was Marinette’s. Did she not get visitors?

“Sorry I haven’t cleaned up recently. I wasn’t expecting guests.” She rubbed one arm, embarrassed at the state of her apartment. 

His cheeks heated up. It hadn’t been his intention to show up just to gawk at her living space. “No, no! Its fine.”

A few more moments of awkward silence passed. Why did he think this was a good idea again?

“Uh, Chat?”

“Yes?” He replied quickly, eager for any conversation starter.

“The basket…?”

“Oh! Sorry, here you go.” The goodies changed hands and Marinette took a look at them, inhaling the scent of the baked goods with a blissful smile. While she was busy, he pressed on. “So… anyway. I wanted to say I really appreciated the help. It was very brave of you to get involved like that. That could very well have been the end of me as Chat Noir.”

She smirked as she looked back up at him. “Yeah, then Paris would have to get a new Chat Noir and a new Ladybug and it would just be a mess. I figured I might as well save us the trouble.”

“Well, a new Chat Noir definitely, but why would we need a new Ladybug? I’m sure she would have been fine handling Mega Drain on her own.” Which was true. A lot of the time he felt like he was more a bodyguard for Ladybug, or sometimes emotional support. 

“Do you really think Ladybug would want to go on without you?” She raised an eyebrow and smiled at him, a smile that quickly vanished when he said:

“Yes, no question. It might be rough for her at first, but there’s no doubt in my mind she’d be able to move on.” He shrugged. “And who knows? Maybe the next one would be better at this than I am.”

She stared at him, shaking her head. “But they wouldn’t be _you_.”

Laughing, he replied, “Yeah, that’s the point.” 

Silence stretched between them again as Adrien stared at nothing in particular and Marinette fidgeted with the basket in her hands. Just as he was about to say his goodbyes, she spoke up.

“You know, you really shouldn’t have gotten this many. I don’t think I should eat them all on my own.”

“Oh?” That _sounded_ like an invitation, but he didn’t want to make assumptions.

“Do you want to stick around? I could put a new movie on. It always helps me be productive.”

It was at this point that Adrien realized he hadn’t actually known what to expect when he came over here. But right now, spending time with a friend sounded much better than sitting at home alone. 

“Sure, I think I can do that. So long as you don’t mind me commenting during the movie.”

Shaking her head with a smile, she said, “I should’ve guessed the famous Chat Noir is a movie talker.”

\-----------------

One movie had turned into two, then three. Granted, they weren’t particularly long movies, but it was well past midnight by the time Adrien began making his way for his window escape. Despite how tired he felt, even now he was leaving reluctantly. He’d had a great time laughing and eating and talking, and he from how often he’d coaxed laughter out of Marinette, he thought she was enjoying herself too. 

It made leaving feel bittersweet. A taste of the friendship he’d never gotten to have. And now he had to go back into his strict, regimented life as if he hadn’t just had the most fun in ages. 

“Hey, Chat?”

“Yes, purrincess?” He grinned at her eye roll. The nickname had stuck while they were watching the Princess Bride, much to her feigned displeasure.

“I was just going to say… tonight was nice. If you wanted to come over more often, I’d appreciate the company.”

“You sure I wasn’t too distracting?”

“Are you kidding? I made more progress on my pieces today than I have in the last two days combined. Something about an empty space drains motivation, you know?”

Smiling back at her, he replied, “Yeah, I think I get what you mean. I’ll come visit again soon. I promise… purrincess.”

He leaped out of the window and made his way home, smiling all the while.


	2. Greek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An odd dream wakes Marinette up in the middle of the night.

_Seated upon her throne, she watched with feigned disinterest as Hercules walk toward her. His steps echoed in the vast hall, the seat of her authority as queen of the Amazons. The skin of the great lion was draped over his shoulders, a mighty club strapped to his back. She stifled a faint smile - only a demigod could sneak past her royal guards all these nights. Although, given what Tikki had said to her, perhaps she knew the source of his ‘divinity’..._

_Her smile grew when he took a knee before her, bowing his head. “Fair greetings to you, my queen.”_

_She laughed at his theatrics. “You are no subject of mine, Hercules.”_

_“Ah but you are wrong,” he walked forward to take her hand and kissed it gently. “You are queen of my heart.”_

_“Such a flirt,” she shook her head. “And arriving armed for battle. Are you trying to impress me? Or do I need to remind you that I am powerful as well?” She gestured to her girdle, the symbol of her authority, but Hercules’ eyes drifted to her ear rings. Her heart skipped a beat - did he know her secret?_

_“You do not need to remind me of your strength, mortal or divine.” Her eyes widened - he knew! “My journeys were long and winding, but they have brought me at last to you, my love,” he whispered as he stepped up to her, barely any space between them as he brushed the hair from her face. “Claws in.”_

_His invincible lion skin vanished and it was no longer Hercules that stood before her, but a mere mortal man. An old friend she recognized only all too well._

_As they embraced, she whispered, “I’m glad it was you.”_

\------------------------------

When Marinette woke up from her dream, the sun hadn’t risen yet, which meant it was already a bad day as far she was concerned. Especially given she probably wouldn’t be able to just go back to sleep after that.

“Tikki?” She hissed at the darkness while fumbling for her bedside lamp. “Tikki, I had a _super_ weird dream.”

On the pillow near her head, a tiny groggy voice replied, “Hm…? About what?”

The lamp’s light flared to life, blinding Marinette for a moment. “I think it was about Chat Noir and I. But a previous version of us.” She paused, attempting to remember the dream. “...Was Hercules a Chat Noir?”  
That got Tikki’s attention and she stared up at Marinette with wide eyes. “Yes. Though he was more often a sweet farmboy than a legendary hero.” She paused. “Did you dream a memory?”

“...Is that possible?”

“Every chosen leaves their mark on the miraculous, which can help new chosen down the line. You would not be the first to have a dream like this before. But… it hasn’t happened for a long time.” She looked pensive and mumbled, "A very long time..." She shook her head. “So what happened in this dream?”

Marinette did her best to describe what happened, even as the memory began leaving her like sand through her fingers. 

“I remember them.” Tikki smiled wistfully. “They started so far apart, but the black cat and the ladybug are always destined to be drawn together. Even if they must cross the world to do so.”

“So,” Marinette pulled her knees up to her chest and frowned, “does that mean I should’ve just forgotten about Adrien and said yes to Chat?” While she could think of worse people to be with, she didn’t like the idea of being a pawn of fate. Her heart belonged to Adrien - even if he was in love with someone else. 

Tikki giggled and placed a reassuring paw on Marinette’s cheek. “Drawn together doesn’t mean soulmates, Marinette. You and Chat Noir are excellent partners, as closely tied as any I’ve seen. Maybe that is all fate has in store between you two?”

“Maybe.” Marinette clambered out of bed. If she had to be up at this hour, she was going to at least get something done. She paused as her stomach growled and she revised her statement. After she made some food, something was going to get done. 

While making some breakfast, she thought about Chat Noir’s visit. “Maybe fate has more in store for us.”

Tikki looked up from where she was seated on the counter, eating a cookie. “Hm?”

“You heard how he was talking about himself when he first got here. Maybe we aren’t as close as we could be.” She stopped talking for a moment to find the eggs in the fridge. “ _Ladybug_ didn’t know he thought so little of himself. He’s always so… confident and carefree around her.”

“But as Marinette…?”

“He doesn’t have an unrequited crush on Marinette.” She looked at the ground. “Maybe rejection built a wall between us without us realizing.”

“Are you talking about Ladybug and Chat, or Marinette and Adrien?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “Both, I guess. But I have a chance to help Chat Noir in a way that Ladybug can’t.”

“Is that why you invited him back over? Don’t you think that’s dangerous?”

“You heard him, Tikki!” She glared at the memory. “He thinks I could just move on if he vanished! He might flirt at the wrong times, he might be overconfident, but he is one of my best friends and he is _hurting_. I can’t just do nothing.” She looked back to Tikki, searching for any hint of her thoughts in her expression. “Right?” 

Her kwami was silent for a moment before nodding with a smile. “You’re right. Besides, maybe this will be good for you too. With Alya and Nino out of Paris more than in it, you don’t exactly get a lot of visitors.”

“I’m sure the people at work will come around…. Eventually…” Although given that she made a spectacularly bad impression on them on her first day, ‘eventually’ would be a long time coming. The apology macaroons had only dug her in deeper when someone broke out in hives thanks to an almond allergy. 

“Well, until then, I think you and Chat Noir could both benefit from spending time together.” Tikki wrung her paws. “Just be careful, okay?”

“Don’t worry, Tikki! I’m sure it won’t become a regular thing, so there’s no need to worry, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea of them dreaming about past chosen is a concept I've explored more in my True Sight story, but I've decided to bring it back for this story as well.


	3. Kittens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir and Marinette watch videos at her house.

“Scoot over, Chat, you’re pushing me off the bed.” Marinette elbowed him in his side to emphasize her point, even if the suit absorbed most of the hit.

“Sorry, princess,” he replied with a lopsided grin, giving her a little more space while still being close enough to watch the laptop that she had settled on her lap. They were winding down from an eventful evening, Marinette having crawled in bed while he was laying on the covers. Soon enough he’d have to leave. But for now, he was enjoying every moment he could get. 

It had been sporadic at first, him coming over to visit her as Chat Noir. But after the first few times, he realized he had started looking forward to the days he could sneak away from work and obligations to talk with her for a while, or watch movies, or help her with her latest projects. Or, like now, laugh at videos online. 

“Ooo! This one looks good.” Her eyes lit up and she opened another cat video, adding it the growing list of tabs. 

Once he realized that the time he got to hang out with her was a bright spot in his usually dreary days, he made time for her. It really didn’t matter what they did, he was just glad he had a friend in his life again. After graduation, he had fallen out of touch with almost everyone as they went their separate ways, despite his best efforts. Nino had been an exception, but he was frequently travelling with Alya. Adrien’s life had fallen into a monotony of modeling, business, and social functions as befitting the heir to the Agreste empire.

“You got that sour look on your face again, Chat.” Marinette paused the video and closed the laptop, giving him her full attention. “What’s going on in that kitty brain of yours?”

“Oh, you know. The usual, I guess.” He rubbed the back of his neck. Her raised eyebrow and crossed arms told him what she thought of that excuse. He sighed. “I was just thinking about how little time I got to spend with friends before I started coming here.”

A look of surprise crossed her face briefly. “ _You_ don’t get a lot of time with friends? With how you acted, I was kinda assuming…”

“...That I was a cool cat and a party animal? Sad to say, purrincess, but I’m not nearly as interesting outside the mask. Besides, they usually keep this cat pretty busy, and that’s not even counting the sauve superhero work.”

She raised her eyebrows again. “You must be really behind on that sauve work, since I certainly haven’t seen it.”

“Me-owch, purrincess.” He put a hand on his heart and pretended to swoon from pain. “Hitting me right where it hurts - in my ego.” _That_ drew a giggle from her and he took a moment to drink it in. He’d been slowly getting better at coaxing laughter out of her, even on bad days. Once she’d settled down, he continued, leaning back against the headboard, “But yeah, after I graduated from school, most of my friends just sorta drifted away. Until recently, all I had to do was stuff for work, but that just made the days blur together. Being Chat Noir at least gives me a diversion from time to time, but I also still need to do patrols. And that’s not even getting into how often I have to sneak away from things to fight akumas.” 

“I understand the feeling. Well, uh, not the superhero part, obviously. I got so wrapped up in work that I missed out on most of my school friends leaving.” She started staring off into the distance, lost in thought. After a few long moments of silence, she looked back at him. “You said ‘until recently’. What changed?”

He gave her a long look before his face split into a grin. “Well, you see, a very brave civilian saved me from an akuma, so I thought I’d pay her a visit. Of course, she fell in love with me immediately and has been practically begging me to come over ever since.”

“Oh, is _that_ what happened? See, I remember a sad and lonely kitty that followed me home after I saved it earlier that day.” She stroked her chin. “And that wasn’t the end of it. See, I fed the stray and now it keeps coming back.” He pouted and she ruffled up his hair. “Don’t worry, he’s grown on me and he’s good company.”

Adopting a tone of false surprise, he asked, “Why, Marinette, are you inviting me to move in?”

“What.”

“Now that you mention it,” he continued, tapping at his cheek in mock thoughtfulness, “that’d save me the trip, we could hang out a lot more, and, best of all, we could get _kittens_.”

She snorted. “Dork. Is this all just part of your master plan to get as many kittens as possible?”

“Only mostly.” He smiled as she laughed again.

“Well, if you ever need a place to crash, I do have a work room that does double duty as a guest room.” She moved her laptop onto her bedside table.

Looking around the room and all the mannequins, fabrics, and half-finished projects strewn about, Adrien replied, “...This isn’t your workroom?”

“No this is my bedroom-” A light blush dusted her cheeks once she followed his eyes to the mess everywhere. “Okay, okay, so my work follows me around the house. But! That just means that the guest space is relatively tidy.” 

“That’s fair, I guess.” He stroked his chin to make it look like he was giving this more thought than he was. He’d never gotten to have sleepovers before, even when he was a kid, so the idea was appealing. Especially after considering he’d finally be in a space with another human being in it. For some reason, his father prefered putting him up in housing with lots of space and bare minimum human contact. Plagg might not be pleased at the risk, but if Adrien remembered to transform with a backpack full of cheese, then he wouldn’t complain too much. “Oh hey, if I do spend the night in the future, can I use your fridge?”

She looked at him curiously. “I… suppose so? Is that a yes then?”

“We’ll see, but I think so.”

“That’s great!” Marinette stretched and yawned. “Can’t be tonight though, so I’m going to have to kick you out now.” 

“Until next time then,” he said as he left through the window, merging seamlessly with the shadows as he made his way home.


	4. Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It looks like no one is going to be around for Marinette's birthday. Unless, of course, a local superhero pays her a visit.

Adrien opened the door to his house and immediately began fumbling for the light switch. It had been another long day at work, where he had been back to modeling again. The modeling sessions were getting fewer and more spaced out, but that just seemed to mean that when his father _did_ call on him to pose for the camera, he expected him to do the work of two or three sessions in one day. So much for slowly getting away from modeling and into the business side of things. 

His eyes felt heavy, and his limbs heavier still. A few weary steps inside and he collapsed onto the couch in his living room, unable to make it to his bed. Plagg emerged from his jacket pocket, the kwami hesitating over Adrien for a few moments. 

“Kid, you need to stand up for yourself.” It was all Adrien could do to avoid rolling his eyes. This was becoming an ever more common topic of conversation for them and it was starting to wear thin. "Gabe always had did run you ragged, but these last few years he has practically run you into the ground."

“I get paid for all that work, you know. _Someone_ has to pay for your cheese habits.”

Plagg's fur bristled in irritation. “No way kid, you’re not putting this one back on me. You know as well as I do my delicious camembert is a drop in the bucket with what you make. Besides, you don’t even spend most of it since you don’t _do_ anything. If you really wanted, you could stop working right now and be fine for what? A few months? A year? More?”

“Father pays for the house. I can’t just say no to him.” Adrien yawned and rolled away from his kwami, only for him to zoom back into his field of view.

Plagg shook his head. “Yeah, the house that you hate to be in and always try to find an excuse to get out of. You need to tell your old man-” 

The ringing of Adrien’s cell phone cut Plagg off. “Oh no. I guess we’ll have to shelf this conversation. Too bad.”

Plagg glared and pointed a grubby paw at him. “This ain’t over, kid. You gotta stand up for yourself eventually.”

It was a struggle to pull out his phone, but he managed it. Nino’s face appeared on the screen.

“Sup, dude!” He took in Adrien’s appearance and cracked a smile. “You look like crap, man.”

“Thanks for sparing my feelings. I may have collapsed on the couch after getting home from the shoot. All the hard work of the makeup and hair teams - wasted!” He threw his arm over his face dramatically, earning a chuckle from Nino.

“Whatever you say, dude.” His face eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Wait. Another day of modeling? I thought you said those were a thing of the past and you were a management guy now?”

Adrien winced on the inside and shrugged. “I’m still the face of the company which means my face needs to be in some of the company’s products. For now, at least,” he rushed to add when he saw the look on Nino’s face. “Soon enough they’ll all be done and someone else can be the face of the company.”

“I dunno, bro. Your daddio’s got his claws in you and if he keeps you modeling, you’ll be too tired to do anything else. I think he’s really dragging his feet if he still hasn’t moved you to some other part of the company. Or he’s just saying he’s gonna promote you to keep you placated.” Nino shook his head. “You gotta talk to him, dude. Nothing’s going to change otherwise.”

Somewhere else in the room, Plagg cackled and Adrien shot a glare in his general direction.

Nino’s face brightened. “You got some peeps over? Good on you! Not gonna lie, I feel guilty sometimes when I realize how little we get to hang out. Especially with all the traveling Al and I do.”

“No, no one’s here.” Growling at Plagg, he added, “Just a stray cat that I’m considering shooing away.” Nino’s words caught up to him. “Wait, are you guys going to be still be gone in a couple weeks?”

“For Mari’s birthday, you mean?” Nino chuckled while Adrien felt his cheeks heat up slightly. His smile faded away as he continued. “But yeah, you’re right. We won’t be able to do anything with her this year. It’s a real bummer.” 

“Yeah…” Adrien frowned. He was used to his birthdays being disappointing, but Marinette had always been surrounded by friends and family. Being alone for such an important day after being used to that… it couldn’t feel great.

“You know, this might be the perfect time to rekindle that friendship,” Nino said hopefully. 

“I don’t think she’d want to spend so much time with the guy who broke her heart.”

“I’m telling you, dude, I’m sure you guys would be the best of friends. I get that you don’t see her in a romantic light, but I know she’d be happy to have a friend close by, you know?”

A friend? His heart clenched in sympathetic pain. “Yeah… okay, maybe. No promises, though, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“That’s all I can ask.” Off screen, Adrien heard Alya calling for Nino. “Sorry, dude. Gonna have to cut this call short. Best of luck with you two, okay?”

“Thanks, Nino. Stay safe and goodbye.”

“I do what I can. Bye!” The screen went dark as Nino hung up.

Adrien lowered the phone onto his chest, still staring up at the ceiling. Despite what his best friend had said, he didn’t think Marinette would be happy to see him appear out of the blue. At least, not if it were _Adrien_ showing up. Smiling, he ran his fingers over his ring. Thankfully, he didn’t have to be Adrien all the time.

But… he shouldn’t just show up empty handed, right? This wasn’t just a normal day to hang out. This was a birthday party for two! They couldn’t leave her apartment, but he _could_ make it feel the special day that it was. Oh, and he should get her presents too.

Adrien leapt to his feet and sat down in front of his desktop computer, searching for anything that he thought Marinette might like. Maybe he could get away with getting her two presents - one as Chat Noir and one as Adrien? That’d be a good way to ease into a normal friendship, right? And had nothing at all to do with the fact that this allowed him to justify buying her twice as much as was socially acceptable. 

In a dark corner of the room, Plagg watched his chosen more around the room, more lively than he had been in months. The cat kwami couldn’t help but grin. There might just be hope for him yet. 

\-------------------------------

Marinette trudged up the long staircase to her apartment, once again cursing the broken elevator and her aching legs. Which only made her even more angry with herself because she was Ladybug! Is a couple flights of stairs _really_ going to be the thing that causes her to break down today?

Then again, she knew that if she did get reduced to tears because of this, it wasn’t simply stairs that did it. The stairs were just the latest in a long line of awful things happening today. Spilt coffee, manically working in preparation for the fall line, asshole bosses - all on top of the frustration that they aren’t letting her do much work on actual designs since she is an intern, which is apparently another word for errand girl. No, the stairs weren’t the problem. They were just the final insult on the terrible, terrible day that was supposed to be the celebration of her birth. 

She fumbled for her keys, which were _somewhere_ on her person, feeling the tension as the breaking point starting to arrive, ready to great it like an old friend. Before it did, she caught a scent in the hallway that made her pause. Something like… Italian? But very spicy. It was making her mouth water just smelling it, which made her pout. Great, she smelled something delicious and now has to go and heat up a frozen meal. A normal day then, since she rarely got the chance to cook for herself these days. 

With a sigh, she unlocked the door and stepped into her apartment, only for the scent to hit her full blast. She turned to her right, towards her kitchen. Standing there was Chat Noir in a chef’s hat, wearing an apron with a cartoon cat on it saying 'Feline Up for Some Dinner' - the cartoon cat also had a chef's hat, she noted in a daze. Chat Noir was merrily humming to himself while stirring a red sauce on the stovetop, a tall pot boiling nearby. Her small kitchen table, normally overburdened with distinctly non-food items like fabrics and dishes, had been cleaned off with two plates and a vase with a pink flower adorning it. She watched the scene for a few long moments before Chat Noir turned around and noticed she was standing stock still in the doorway.

Brief surprise gave way to a broad grin. “Hey, purrincess! I wasn’t sure when you got off work today, so I kinda got here way earlier than I needed to.” He rubbed the back of his neck when she didn’t immediately respond. Instead, she walked towards him, dropping off her purse on her couch as she passed by. 

“Sorry I didn’t call or anything, I wanted to surprise you since its your birthday! Oh, that reminds me,” he disappeared below the countertop between them. He emerged with a box covered in cartoon cat face wrapping paper and pushed it towards her. “Happy birthday!”

She looked down at the box, slowly unwrapping it. Inside was a handmade card saying that she was “Pawsitively the best fur-real friend a cat could ask for,” a couple quality sketchbooks, and a few dvds of her favorite movies that her collection had been sorely lacking. 

“Chat… I don’t know what to say…”

The feline hero shrugged, his lips quirking up in a barely suppressed smile. “Then don’t say anything. Dinner is almost ready, so go ahead and take a seat while I finish making it.” He turned back around to attend to the red sauce and stir the pasta. 

Once she sitting at the table, she took a deep breath to savor the scent of the food. “I didn’t know you could cook, chaton.”

“I can’t,” he laughed, “I know just a few dishes. It’s been a while since I made arrabbiata, but I’ve been practicing for the last two weeks to get it right.”

“Why that dish?” Not that she was complaining - it smelled delicious.

“Well, you’ve mentioned that you liked spicy food, all I can cook is Italian, and arrabbiata is the only Italian dish I know of that’s got the heat.” She had a vague memory of them discussing food choices when they were considering if they wanted to order take out a few weeks ago. Had he really held onto that little tidbit of information for that long?

Before she could ask more questions - like, for example, why he could only cook Italian - he took her plate and handed it back laden with the steaming pasta and red sauce. Despite what he seemed to think, it had ended up amazing and if he tried to talk down his cooking abilities in the future, she’d have to give him a firm smack upside the head. 

Somewhere between the unexpected meal and the ensuing conversation, Marinette felt the tension that had been building up throughout the day melt away. And for the first time since she moved here, her apartment felt like a home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I commissioned some fan art of this chapter from the talented Inkshila! Check it out: [On Tumblr](https://thewritewolf.tumblr.com/post/190120606823/commission-aged-up-chat-noir)


	5. Baking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's a movie without snacks?

“Really? _That’s_ why your coworkers are mad at you? Seems like a really stupid thing to keep a grudge over.” Chat Noir sipped at the tea Marinette had made for him, holding the mug very carefully to avoid scratching it was his clawed gloves. 

“I know, right?! So I had one bad day _two years_ ago and they will still barely talk to me.” She sighed. “I’ve already started looking around for other internships. Even if I don’t get better pay, it’ll at least be nice not to be a social outcast.”

It had been sweet of Chat Noir to listen to her vent for the last… three hours, she realized with a wince as she glanced at her clock. When had Chat Noir become so patient? Her experience with him from Ladybug’s perspective was a hothead who rushed into things without thinking. There had been times where she had to worry more about reining in his more moody episodes than fighting the akuma of the day. Yet here he was, letting her get all her frustrations off her chest while being as supportive as ever. 

“It definitely isn’t fair, purrincess. But I think I know what will cheer you up…” She tilted her head to the side as he stretched for the gift box he’d brought. Holding up the dvds, he grinned at her, “...movie night!”

“Hm… sounds good, but missing something.” She tapped her chin for added effect.

“And what’s that?”

“We’ll need snacks. Lots of them.” She caught him glancing towards the last remnants of their dinner. “Pasta is not movie food, chaton, not even delicious pasta.” He puffed his chest out at her off-handed compliment. “How does sugar cookies sound to you?”

“I’ll defer to your superior movie day expertise.” They stood at the same time, but Chat Noir hesitated. “It’s, uh… been awhile since I’ve made cookies. Like, years. So I’ll follow your lead on this one.”

“Well, it’s good for you that I practically grew up baking delicious treats.” She started pulling out all the ingredients she’d need. “Sugar cookies really aren’t that hard, so I’ll just whip up the batter myself. You can help roll them out into balls before we put them in the oven.”

Chat Noir sighed dramatically, holding aloft his chef’s hat. Even after three hours of talking, she didn’t know why he’d brought it besides being a dork. “Ah, from head chef to mere bystander. How the mighty have fallen.”

“Well since you seem so familiar with _my_ kitchen, you can get the pan out and greased while I’m going this.”

“Yes, chef!” Despite the crisp salute, he moved leisurely and hummed a song that Marinette couldn’t quite place while he worked. She was still stirring when he was finished and watching her expectantly. 

She stared pointedly at his hands. “Those gauntlets come off, Chat?”

“Yes…? Oh, right. Probably don’t want me rolling cookies in these, do you?” He chuckled to himself as he undid some latch underneath the bulky gloves and Marinette blinked as she realized that this was the first time she’d ever seen her partners bare hands. 

They weren’t what she had expected, although she wasn’t aware she even had expectations of what he looked like outside the suit. Since Chat was always a wild child and full of life, she had expected maybe some scars or calluses. Maybe a tan from long days outside. Instead, they looked… soft and well manicured. No sign of rough usage or long healed injuries. The hands of someone who took their looks seriously, and stayed out of trouble. She realized she was staring and quickly looked down at what she was stirring as Chat Noir went to wash his hands. 

The rest of the process was spent in companionable quiet and between the two of them all the dough was rolled and flattened in no time at all. Even with her distracted by his bare hands - she’d already been proven wrong twice about her long standing assumptions about him. What else could she have incorrectly assumed?

Once she set the pan in the oven, she asked, “So… want to play a game to pass the time?”

As expected, that got his interest. Though he tried to hide the excitement in his voice, she could see it in his eyes and by the swishing of his tail. “Sure! What did you have in mind?”

“Well, some sweetheart just got me some new sketchbooks, so I was thinking we could do kind of like a drawing charades? We draw something and the other person has to guess what it is. Every three correct answers and we’ll swap positions. Sound good?”

“Sounds _purr-fect_.” When she pushed the book over to him, he shook his head and pushed it back. “Host gets first turn. Even I know that rule.”

WIth the help of a random word generator, she began sketching the first object. She didn’t make it far from the symmetrical design before Chat Noir made his guess.

“Butterfly?” He grinned. “I’d rather leave work at work, if you don’t mind, Marinette.”

“Okay, fair enough. Butterfly was probably too easy a start. What about this…” She quickly jotted out an outline with four legs, whiskers, and a tail. 

He snickered. “Really? Its a cat. No? What else could it - oh, a _kitten_.”

“Almost got you there, Chat. Can’t get too cocky. Last one before we switch.”

“Uhh, a circle. A pancake? No. Soup with sprinkles?” She looked at where he was hovering over her shoulder and raised her eyebrow. “What? It could happen. Cake with candles.” She gestured for him to continue. “...Oh! Birthday cake.”

“Good job. Now,” she passed the sketchbook and phone with the word generator to him, only now noticing how close he’d gotten, “Your turn.”

He took the offered pencil sheepishly. “Okay, just keep in mind I’m not as good at drawing as you.” 

“And that’s part of the challenge for me.” She glanced at the clock. Still a while to go until the cookies were done. “Start when you’re ready.”

His first drawing was a crowd of people just barely above stick figure quality, but what tipped her off was how there was two bigger ones and a smaller one - which lead her to the correct guess of family. Next he made a long-sleeved shirt with surprisingly good detail. The two of them had gone through her fall clothing sketchbooks before. Was that where he learned to draw sweaters? The last one had been more abstract, but his little forest scene made more sense when he doodled wind and falling leaves. In hindsight, autumn should have been obvious. 

“Alright, my turn again.” She hesitated for a moment before turning the page, savoring the little drawings Chat had made before starting her turn.

With only a single rectangle to go off of Chat Noir began guessing. “Box!” She added z’s coming off of it. “Tired box. Sleeping box. Bed!” 

She took quick break to laugh before turning to him incredulously. “Sleeping box?!” 

“I remembered the word eventually,” he grumbled. “Did I at least get it right?”

“No, but you’re close. Let’s see if this helps…” She drew another rectangle around the box and he finally got it. 

“Oh! Pillow!”

She nodded and started work on her next drawing. It didn’t take long for him to figure out ‘gloves’, especially since she just copied his suit’s. Just as she reached for her phone to go for another round, she saw the time.

“Cookies should be done now, so that’s the end of the game.” She saw a brief look of disappointment on Chat Noir’s face. “Don’t worry, we can always play again some other time.”

“I’ll hold you to that. At least sugar cookies are a good reason to stop.” He took a deep breath as she took them out of the oven. “Ahhhh… delicious.”

She giggled, “You haven’t even had any!”

“Well, it’s a dupain-cheng baked good, so it goes without saying.”

“Such a flatterer.”

“I don’t hear you denying it.”

“And that’s because it’s true. Doesn’t make you any less of a flatterer for bringing it up.” She set the platter of cookies on the table. “Don’t eat all those while I’m gone. I’m going to scrounge up a bunch of pillows and blankets. Can you get ready to start the movies while I’m looking?”

“Sure.”

It took awhile for her to find where she’d stashed all of it. After all, it had been months, if not a full year since she’d needed to pull out extra pillows and blankets. Which made her stop and really think. Had it been so long since she’d had anyone stay over? She’d gotten into such an exhausting routine at work, she hadn’t even realized. By the time she came back, Chat Noir was lounging on her couch, eyes closed and hands behind his head. The television wasn’t even on, much less set up. She narrowed her eyes at him and walked towards him.

He cracked open one eye and grinned at her. “Hey, purrincess. Find everything- ack!” His sentence was cut off when she dumped everything onto him and jumped on top of it. “Hey! I was laying here!”

She coyly looked down at him, being sure to open her eyes in mock surprise. “Oh! Sorry. I must not have noticed you there.” She smiled sweetly at him. “ _I’m_ comfortable. Are you ready to watch some movies.” 

“Ha ha, very funny. Get off and I’ll start them.” 

She jumped off of him and while he was busy with the dvd player, Marinette unfolded the blankets and strategically placed some pillows while pulling up the table to put the cookies on. By the time he was done, she was under the blankets and holding them up for him. He slipped in after turning off the lights and their marathon began. 

\-------------------------

The light of the credits provided scant illumination for the room. Despite eating all the sugar cookies, the two of them were feeling drained after the long day and relaxing in front of the television. Marinette was barely able to keep her eyes open. She’d long since given up the struggle to sitting up straight and she was leaning against Chat Noir, her head was resting on his shoulder. As sleepy as she felt that she was, she knew that Chat was doing even worse, since he’d already nodded off a couple times during the last movie. She pulled herself away from Chat, only now noticing that his arm had snaked around her at some point during the last few hours. Stretching, she stood and gently nudged him. 

“Chat? It’s pretty late and it doesn’t feel right to send you out when you’re this tired. You want to crash here?”

Yawning, he replied, “If that’s alright with you, yeah.” 

“C’mon, I’ll show you to the guest room. Grab some of those pillows and blankets and make yourself comfortable.”

He shambled after her, only reluctantly still awake before collapsing onto the guest bed. No sooner had she closed the door than a flash of green light appeared under the door. Her heart fluttered for a moment - on the other side of the door was whoever Chat Noir actually was. She stood still for a few long heartbeats before his snoring broke her out of it. 

“Goodnight, kitty,” she whispered before heading to bed herself.


	6. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien's patrols are lonely, even more so when he sees what he has been missing.

Adrien ran across the rooftops of Paris, feeling the crisp autumn air rushing past his face. As he leapt across a street to another block of buildings, he thought that even though he didn’t have Ladybug’s yoyo, he prefered his method of getting across the city. While he couldn’t soar with quite as much grace, there was something about how tactical it was to run and climb and jump that made the wood and stone and steel of the city feel much more… familiar to Adrien. 

On his solo patrols, he could zone out completely and just focus on the here and now of getting from place to place. Nothing but him and the next improvised hand hold, or the weightlessness of a strong jump. Despite the energetic nature of it, there was a calm that it gave him. The luxury of being at peace in his own head, which was an increasingly rare thing for him. 

Sometimes, he could simply stop and watch the city breath around him. Watch without being seen, hear without being heard. Who could notice a black cat at night, after all? And even now, with akumas a common enough danger, people rarely looked up at the rooftops. Usually only those who he wanted to notice him actually saw him. Most passed by completely unaware that one of Paris’s protectors was watching over them. 

He took a deep breath, savoring the scent of the Dupain-Cheng bakery. It had always been a favorite stop for him, even if he never went inside. Even when they were closed for the day, the delicious smell of the bakery’s goods permeated the space. And usually left him hungry by the time he got home. For the first time in a long while, he stood and stared at Marinette’s childhood home. Through the window, he could see her laughing and eating with her family. It made him oddly wistful. If mom hadn’t vanished, would father have become as cold as he was? They had never had what he could call a normal home life, but he had at least been able to call somewhere home. 

He took another deep breath, this one more for peace than pleasure. The past was the past and he would be better off if he moved on from it. It was a lesson his father still hadn’t learned, even after all these years. He looked back toward the bakery.

Marinette had told him that she would be visiting her parents for the weekend, so her presence at their shop wasn’t surprising. But what did shock him was when he saw her looking back at him. 

\---------------------------

Marinette was basking in the warmth of the family bakery on this chilly fall evening. Not just the physical warmth that comes with the territory of having big ovens, but also the emotional warmth of the kind faces of her parents and the sense that no matter how long she’d spent away from here, she would always be welcome. In this rough patch in her life, it wasn’t simply nice; it was a lifeline. Just knowing she always had somewhere to go gave her a measure of peace and the strength to get through the worst challenges in her day to day life. 

Her papa had just made another bread-based pun, one of the many that she’d heard nearly every day for the past decade. While she was rolling her eyes, she caught sight of a figure standing on a rooftop across the street. Her heart skipped a beat as she recognized her best friend and heroic partner, Chat Noir staring right back at her. This far away, she couldn’t make out his expression, but when she tried to raise her hand to wave at him, a jolt seemed to run through him and he ran off. 

A bemused smile came to her lips as she made a mental note to ask him about that when she saw him next. She turned back to the conversation her parents were having, but her mind was elsewhere. Over the years of their partnership, she’d learned to read Chat Noir like her one of her many fashion magazines. While he had never said it in as many words, she’d always gotten the sense that his home life… wasn’t great. A distant father, a missing mother. With the secret identities and all, she hadn’t pressed for more, but now she was wondering if that had been the right call after all. 

She looked at her papa, laughing at his own jokes as he moved the main dish onto the table. She spared a glance for her mom, passing Marinette tea with all her favorites in it. How warm and cozy it was in this space. Was it her he had been watching so intently? Or was it the family he’d never had? Or maybe a mix of both?

Without really thinking about it, she begins idly sketching her kitty.

\--------------------------------

Adrien was on his normal patrol route alone, once again. With how busy he and Ladybug were, solo patrols had become the normal rather than the exception these days. It wasn’t a trend he liked, since his lady had made it very clear that she didn’t want him flirting in battle, but they spent very little time together outside of akuma fights. Or maybe Ladybug wasn’t actually busy and just said that to keep him at a distance. With a disheartened sigh, he made his way towards one of the people that he knew would be happy to see him.

He arrived at Marinette’s in his usual fashion - through a window and with flourish. She didn’t seem to appreciate the effort since she just watched him curiously, her current project set down on her table. He knew he couldn’t stay long since she had a lot to work on, but maybe they could talk for a few minutes, maybe have a couple of hot chocolate. 

Before he could make a quip to ignite a conversation, she asked him, “What was with you at my parents a few days back? You left in such a hurry.”

“Oh, ah, you actually saw me then?” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He’d hoped that she hadn’t managed to tell it was him in the dark. At that distance, it would be pretty easy to mistake him for Ladybug, even if he was taller than her.

“You could’ve stopped by, you know. I’m sure mom and papa would be happy to see you.”

He grinned. “Been talking about our visits then?”

“No,” she rolled her eyes, “but you _are_ one of Paris’s superheroes, in case you forgot.”

“Oh, right.” When he was talking with Marinette, it was easy to forget that the mask was there. She didn’t need to know that, however. “Well maybe I’ll take you up on that offer one day. It is my favorite place to stop on patrol - such delicious smells!”

“You’ll have to give us some warning before you drop in, of course.” She bit her lip and pulled out her phone. “Here,” she said while unlocking it, “put your baton’s number in and I’ll send you a text. Then we’ll have each other’s numbers.”

“You want… my number?”

Slowly, very slowly, he reached out for her phone. It was such a small action, trading numbers. But it felt like so much more. Like it was a promise. A more lasting connection between them, being able to contact each other whenever they wanted. He knew he shouldn’t just go around giving his number out to civilians, but Marinette wasn’t just any civilian, was she? There was something else about her, and he was willing to take risks if it meant bringing her back into his life. 

His confidence wavered only for a moment when he saw his name - his _real_ name - right at the top of her contacts list. She’d still kept it, even after everything. There was even little heart next to it. Maybe…

No. It was best not to get her hopes up. Who knows if he could move on from Ladybug?

He entered his baton’s number and handed her phone back to her. Soon enough, a buzzing sound came from it and he added the number to his contacts.

“I hope Ladybug doesn’t mind,” he said with a sigh. “She doesn’t like me taking unnecessary risks.”

“Well… we _could_ just not tell her.” 

“Sorry, Marinette. I don’t lie to my lady, and I’m not about to start now.” He checked the clock. “Looks like I need to head back home. Good night, princess.” He bowed deeply to her and winked. “Hopefully next time I can hang out a little while longer.”

As he landed on the building opposite her apartment, he saw her lean her arms against the window sill and could just barely hear her whisper, “I hope so too.”


	7. Roommates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir has been spending the night more frequently.

With a great force of will, Marinette managed to roll out of bed and start her day. Technically, this was one of the few days she could sleep in without having to call into work, but a few things were stopping her from succumbing to the temptation. 

First, she worked most days. If she slept in on one of her few days off, then she would definitely be out of sync for a while afterwards. Far more than she would be willing to accept for such a fleeting pleasure. Her second and much more pressing reason was that Chat Noir had spent the night and could very well still be in her home. It might sound dumb, but she was eager to get all the extra time with him that she could. 

“You’re thinking about him again, aren’t you?”

Marinette jumped at Tikki’s voice appearing next to her ear while she was brushing her hair. After her heart stopped beating at a hundred kilometers per hour, she asked, “Is it that obvious?”

“Mhmm. You know, it’s alright feel happy that you have friends visiting you again. I know how sad you were being all alone in here.”

“I know, but… it feels like we’ve gotten so close way too quickly.” These last few weeks, Chat Noir had been visiting almost every other day. Today wasn’t unusual - he spent at least a couple days out of the week crashing at her house. Effectively, her guest bedroom could just be called ‘Chat’s Room’. Most times, he was gone before she woke up, once she was up before him and they got to have breakfast together. It felt… pleasantly domestic. Which worried her. “I don’t want to ruin another friendship.”

“Marinette…” Tikki seemed about to say something else, but instead sighed and gave her a sad look before phasing through the door. 

Now satisfied that she didn’t look like she had just rolled out of bed, Marinette stepped outside her room. She listened to the quiet, feeling a faint hope get dashed. It seemed that Chat was a morning person and every time she’d seen him before he left, he was up before her. Since the TV was off, he must have left already. Her eyes strayed to the door at the end of the hall, which lead into the guest bedroom. She’d better go and tidy it up before she inevitably forgot about it. 

She opened the door and poked her head in. It was warm as the early morning sun’s rays gently illuminated the room. There was still a few spare bolts of fabric in here, a callback to the long gone days where she tried to keep all her creative efforts confined to a single room. An effort she quickly abandoned when it became clear she wasn’t going to have regular company again for a long time. Her eyes landed on the bed. Electricity coursed through her when she realized it was occupied. She had a sense of a mop of golden blonde hair arrayed like a halo over a concealed, sleeping face before she pulled back and slammed the door shut with much too much force. Her hand flew to her mouth as she waited for the inevitable shout of surprise or shock. To her relief, she didn’t hear him stir from his slumber.

No wonder he was still here then - he must’ve had a rough day or even week if he of all people was still asleep. Worry quickly replaced relief and not for the first time, she wished that the masks wouldn’t get in the way. With their identities at stake, how could she really help him if he couldn’t tell her anything about what was troubling him? 

Well, there was one thing she could do. After leaving a cube of cheese near the door for his kwami, Marinette got to work making breakfast. 

She wasn’t used to making large meals in the morning. In school, she’d always been running late and never had time for much more than a slice of toast or a piece of fruit. And with how early work was, she often simply went without breakfast entirely. Today would prove to be a good change of pace, for both of them.

As she began making toast and eggs, she couldn’t help but smile to herself. It was almost like they were a couple already - one of them waking up early to make the other breakfast. Maybe there was more between them than just friends. Another, more bitter part of her argued that maybe she was just emotionally starved and Chat was the first person to connect with her in awhile. It was only natural for her to latch onto him, especially while trying to move on from Adrien. Physically, there wasn’t that much different between them. Golden blonde hair… vibrant green eyes… sweet ringing laugh… kissable lips…

Marinette felt a blush spread across her face and she shook her head to get rid of the invading thoughts. No! Not again. That’s what happened with Adrien - she fell too far, too quickly and everything got ruined. Chat’s friendship meant the world to her and she knew the same was true for him. She couldn’t risk messing up this one too. No matter what, she needed to preserve their friendship. Pointedly avoiding thinking about it, she decided to instead hum a song that she’d picked up from Chat as she finished making breakfast.

No sooner had she put the food on plates than there was a knock at her door. Upon answering it, she found that there was a package for her. Not too surprising - it had only been a couple weeks since her birthday and with so many of her family members outside the country, she was usually receiving gifts a month or two after her actual birthday had passed. She was just about to set it aside to open later when she noticed the label, which said it came from someone in Paris.

A hard ball of dread formed in her gut as she carefully, slowly cut the tape and opened the package. Inside was two things: a card and a bolt of black fabric. As much as she wanted to feel the fabric, she was drawn to the card first. Her heart nearly stopped when she opened it and read:

“Hey, Marinette! It’s been a while, but I’m hoping you’re doing well. An awesome person like you deserves a wonderful birthday. I hope you like the presents I sent! From, Adrien. PS - Sorry this is so late! The fabric took a while to arrive.” It might have been her imagination, but she could almost see that the where the ‘from’ was, the word ‘love’ had been thoroughly erased and written over. 

She sank to her knees on the ground, tears fighting to run freely. With a trembling hand, she reached out for the fabric. Just as she suspected, it was the warm kind that she had absolutely adored making nice little gloves and hats out of, but could never find again. No wonder it had arrived late - she’d given up trying to buy some when she saw she’d have to custom order some from Italy. 

It was… very sweet. And unexpected. A lot like what had made her fall for him in the first place. That was just how he was. Always kind, always smiling, even if his smiles were almost always for the benefit of others and not born of genuine happiness. Despite his yearning for friends, he never really had many. Sure, people liked him, but few people ever got close to him. She brushed her thumb over the words he’d wrote for her. How was he doing right now, she wondered? 

Before she could give it more thought, she heard movement in her guest bedroom and rushed to put away the gift. She had to worry about one boy at a time. Besides, she didn’t want to become a mess in front of Chat Noir and leaving it out would be a recipe for disaster. 

A few minutes later, Chat Noir stepped into the kitchen with his hair even more of a mess than usual, but as bright and chipper as usual. He enjoyed the breakfast she had made for the two of them and seemed unaware of her inner turmoil as he opened the window to make his escape. A cold wind blew past him, causing him to shiver.

“It’s going to be _fun_ to patrol this winter, I can already tell.” He gave a two finger salute and a wink, which had far more of an effect on her than she cared to admit. “Take care, princess.”

As she shut her window, she thought back to the warm black fabric that Adrien had bought her, already thinking of the first project she would use it for.


	8. Mittens for Kittens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On a cold winter day, Marinette considers inviting Chat Noir over.

Marinette hesitated over her phone, her finger hovering over the send button. She wasn’t exactly sure why this was so nerve wracking - it wasn’t like this was the first time she had invited Chat Noir over before. As winter had crept in, she found that a certain chilly kitty had been asking more and more frequently to stop by in the middle of his patrols. Sometimes just for a few minutes to warm up. Sometimes a few minutes would turn into a few hours as they talked and laughed over hot chocolate and warm blankets. 

It made her wonder why he always insisted on taking on more of her patrols during the winter. For all this time, she had thought that he was just not as affected by the cold. Which was true, in a sense - the ladybug miraculous had only worsened her tolerance for winter’s bite. But no. It turns out he is exactly as affected by the cold as a normal guy in black leather would be. 

Well, she’d finally asked him about it as Marinette just yesterday. He had turned to her with a cocky smile and eyes full of tender affection and said, “It might be cold, but love keeps me warm. I don’t like it, but if it helps her, then I can’t complain, you know?”

She was glad that he had been on the way out the window at that point, since she wasn’t sure she’d be able to form coherent sentences after that. Maybe that was why it was hard for her to invite him tonight. It hadn’t really occurred to her that what they were doing could be considered lying to him. Even after all these years of rebuking his advances and turning him down and telling him to stop flirting, he still felt such affection for her that he was willing to brave long nights in the cold for her sake. It had been hard to be just friends with the masks, even as they grew close as partners. Here she was, able to vent to someone, talk to someone about her frustrations and problems and Chat couldn’t do much more than give vague indications of how his life was going. It felt cruel.

It could also be that tonight she had planned to give him what she had been working on ever since last week when he mentioned the chill for the first time. It hadn’t been hard to find the time and energy to work on it. It wasn’t like her work was creatively draining, after all. Measurements had been harder to come across, but one thing she had picked up during this internship was getting a good sense at guessing sizes. Besides, he was pretty similar in build to another green eyed boy, and while it was embarrassing to admit, she had _his_ measurements practically memorized. 

Would they fit? Would he like them? Would he wear them on patrol like she hoped?

Only one way to find out, she thought as she pressed the send button. 

\--------------------------

Adrien was shivering as he perched on the balcony railing of Marinette’s old room. He had been hoping that the sweet scent wafting up from the bakery would be enough to renew his determination to finish the patrol, but that idea didn’t pan out like he’d hoped. Instead of being motivated to get the run the rest of the route, he just wanted to stay here and enjoy the smell for a while longer. 

His wallowing in his own misery was interrupted when he received a message on his baton. As always, there was a brief flash of irrational hope that it was Ladybug summoning him for a late night visit, but he was pleased nonetheless once he realized it was Marinette. 

**Marinette:** Movie night?

He took one look around at the cold and darkness, and thought of hot chocolate and sharing a blanket a Marinette’s place. The choice was clear.

**Chat Noir:** Missing me already? :3 

There was a slight hesitation as he sent that message. Was it too flirty? He didn't want to undermine their relationship by being flirty. There was already one woman in his life that kept him at arm's length because of it. He didn't want to add another.

**Marinette:** Yes or no, kitty, my hand is on the window lock.

He breathed a sigh of relief. If she was still offering, then she wasn't offended.

**Chat Noir:** Coming right over!

With renewed energy, he leapt from the balcony and made his way along the route that would bring him to Marinette. It didn’t take long; he had become very familiar with the area since he started visiting. In what felt like no time at all he was already sneaking in through the window and basking in the warmth of her living room. His basking was cut short when Marinette poked her head into the room and grinned. 

“I’ve got something for you, Chat!” She approached while holding a large gift bag.

“Yeah? What’s the occasion?” Even if she knew when it was, his birthday had already passed without fanfare (hurray, another pen from his father) and there was still a few months before Christmas.

The question seemed to confuse her. “I don’t need an occasion to give my friends presents, Chat Noir. Here,” she pushed the bag into his hands, “I’ll make us some hot chocolate.”

While she did move into the kitchen, he couldn’t help but notice that as he started to open the bag she was unabashedly staring at him. It became clear why when he pulled out a black sweater and a pair of thick mittens. Fittingly, a smiling cartoon cat head was embroidered on the front in lime green thread. A matching smile dawned on his face as he rubbed the fabric against his cheek, reveling in how soft it was. He recognized the fabric, of course. He felt touched that her first thought was to use it for his sake.

“You… like it, then?” He looked over to see Marinette nervously wringing her hands, but otherwise trying to pretend she was uninterested. 

“No,” he said, completely deadpan.

“Oh… I’m-”

A grin split his face. “I _love_ it. It’s purrfect. Did you make it yourself?” He slipped the sweater on, the world going dark for a moment as he navigated his way through its dark recesses. It was a little long in the arms, but otherwise it fit snuggly. 

She smacked him on the arm. "That was _rude_ , scaring me like that. Anyway," she nodded proudly. "I did! It’s been awhile since I’ve just gotten to make things for my friends.”

“Really?” He asked while pointedly looking around the room at the half-finished projects.

“Those are commissions, kitty. It isn’t a lot, but it keeps me in practice and gives me some extra euros for rainy days.”

“So you take commissions then? Do you think I could hire you to make something for Ladybug?”

To his surprise, she looked panicky. “Well, I, uh, you see… yes? I suppose?”

“That’s great! If it is even half as good as this is,” he bunched up the sweater in his claws, “then I’m sure she’ll love it!” A few minutes passed as she made their drinks and he admired her handiwork. “So what other projects are you working on?” 

As the conversation shifted, Adrien realized just how long it had been since anyone had given him something ‘just because.’ He didn’t know how yet, but he resolved to return the favor somehow. Already, a few ideas were coming to mind…

\----------------------------------------------

“Hey, girl! How are you holding up?”

Marinette pressed the phone between her ear and shoulder so she could stir the pasta. After having Chat’s and having in love with the taste, she made him teach her how to make it. It took a little practice, but she liked what she made. 

“Pretty good. I’ve on top of commissions for the first time in forever, my internship isn’t being a huge pain in my rear, and things are looking up I think!”

“I’m glad it hear it, girl!” Her voice took on a sly edge. “Does it have anything to do with a certain blonde boy paying you a visit…?”

Marinette’s heart skipped a beat and she nearly dropped the phone in the sauce. She hadn’t told anyone about Chat Noir’s visits, _especially_ not Alya the full time reporter and Ladyblog owner, as much as it pained her to keep more secrets from her best friend. How could she have figured it out?

Doing her best to keep her voice light and carefree, she asked, “How’d you know about that? Have you been watching my house again, Alya?”

Alya scoffed. “Oh come on, that was _once_! And I needed to know for sure if you were Ladybug or not!”

Thankfully, Tikki had spotted her and they managed to rig up a dummy while Marinette fought the akuma of the day. It had been a close call, though. 

“...but if you must know, Nino told me.”

That… only raised more questions. “How did Nino know?”

“Girl, Nino is basically the only one that Adrien has any connect with anymore. According to Nino, Adrien all but promised that he was going to visit you on your birthday. Honestly, it’s been a long time coming.”

“But that can’t be…” Marinette trailed off. She was going to say the only one who had visited her on her birthday was Chat Noir, but she couldn’t tell Alya that. Instead, she opted to change the topic. “So how is your trip to the States going?”

With Alya successful distracted, the conversation was kept to safer ground. Still, Marinette couldn’t help but feel a nagging suspicion in the back of her mind. Was it just a coincidence that Adrien promised to show the same day Chat Noir did? Maybe Nino just misunderstood what Adrien was going to do. Or it could be that Adrien got cold feet - all the better since Chat Noir ended up staying for so long.

She very pointedly avoided thinking about the most obvious solution. Ladybug was lucky, but she wasn’t _that_ lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a fair warning - I'm trying my hardest, but I think I'm going to fall behind. These chapters are longer and thus harder to put out on time, and I've been working on another story at the same time. 
> 
> But don't worry! I will be finishing Rekindle, I just might be finishing it in early June rather than on the last day of the monht.


	9. Ice Skating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir has a big surprise for Marinette.

It was late in the afternoon when Marinette began gathering blankets and pillows for Chat Noir’s impending visit. While it was becoming increasingly common for the feline hero to give her a heads up before he arrived, these were usually an hour or two in advance, sent just as he began his patrol. Today was something different, though. He’d asked her to keep her evening free on this specific day a full week ago, which was something he’d never done before.

“No question about it, he’s planning something,” Marinette said as she placed three folded blankets on the couch.

“What do you think it is? There is only so much you two can do here, right?” Tikki nibbled at her cookie as she followed close behind Marinette.

She shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. I’m thinking it’s probably a movie night, but some part of me hopes that he is making something for dinner again. I love his cooking!” Marinette turned to see an odd look on Tikki’s face. “...Did I say something weird?”

Tikki waved her away with her paw and a shake of her head, a faint smile dawning. “Sorry, Marinette. You just reminded me of an old friend. He’s a big fan of food too.” She took another bite from her cookie and her face screwed up in concentration. “I don’t think he’ll be making dinner though.”

Trying not to let her disappointment show, Marinette asked as she searched her hallway closet, “What makes you say that?”

“Because he likes surprising people and if he wanted to make you dinner he would have done it while you were at work. Instead…” Tikki trailed off behind her. 

Marinette continued the thought. “...Instead, he asked for me to make sure I had an evening free. What does that willy cat have planned?”

“You’ll find out soon enough, purrincess.” A jolt went through Marinette as she spun around, swinging the pillows in her hands like a deadly weapon. Chat didn’t seem the least bit surprised when they connected with him and he continued as if nothing had happened. “And a hello to you too.” He smiled, his hands behind his back and tail gently swishing back and forth. “Who were you talking to?”

“Myself,” she lied after only a slight hesitation. When he raised an eyebrow at her, she crossed her arms and stared him down. “I kinda had to if I wanted to have any conversation in this house before you started showing up, you know!”

There was a hint of sadness in his eyes when he replied, “I can understand the feeling.” He smiled as he playfully nudged her. “Good thing we have each other then, yeah?” 

It was easy to return his smile. “Yeah. At least we’ve got that.” She swallowed heavily as she realized he might have caught sight of Tikki. “So, uh… what did you overhear?”

“Not much, just the part about you wondering what I had planned.” His ears twitched and his smile turned sly. “Why? Did I miss some juicy gossip?”

“No,” she tapped him on the nose, making him go cross eyed for a moment, “but since you were eavesdropping the least you can do is tell me what you’ve got cooked up in that kitty brain of yours.”

He chuckled. “Well, I thought that you’ve been so kind in letting me into your space that it was about time that I let you into mine.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “Chat… are you… going to reveal your secret identity?”

To her surprise, he scoffed. “No, that guy is boring. I’m talking about Chat Noir’s space. My favorite places to stop all over Paris!” He grinned. “I’ve had plenty of time to find the best spots in the city, after all. Sound good?”

“Sounds chilly,” she grumbled, which is when her eyes trailed downward to see that he was wearing the sweater she made for him, and then back up to his big, pleading eyes. She sighed in defeat. “Okay, fine. Let me get dressed for the weather and we can head out.”

“Awesome!” He stood outside the door to her room as she got changed, talking enthusiastically about how he’d timed it so it was warm enough to go out, but also in the middle of the week so there wouldn’t be a lot of people out, especially this late at night. It was both surprising and endearing that he thought this ahead so much. She stepped out while he was still monologuing, and he quieted immediately.

“What?” She put a hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing, you just look lovely is all.” He blushed and added, “Not that you don’t normally, it’s just I don’t- you-” His ears flattened against his head and he hunched over in defeat. “Never mind.”

Giggling, she patted him on the head in what she hoped was a comforting way. Tonight was going to be interesting, she could already tell.

\-----------------------------

When she agreed to being carried bridal style across Paris, she had expected that she would have spent more time _pretending_ to be surprised and amazed at the views that he was showing her. Instead, she was suprised at how much she genuinely enjoyed looking out on the vistas he was showing her, relearning the beauty of the city she had thought she had known so well. Still, there was a nagging doubt in the back of her mind. 

As they leaned against the railing in the bell tower of Notre Dame - the one spot of the evening she _did_ know well - she asked him, “Chat? Have you ever shown Ladybug any of this?”

He shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I’d love to, of course, but I don’t think she’d appreciate it.”

That rubbed her the wrong way, but she tried to keep the defensiveness out of her voice. “I’m sure Ladybug would like the view too, you know.”

“Oh definitely,” he replied with a sad smile. “I just don’t think she’d want me there. She might think it would get my hopes up, that it would be too much like a date. Or she’d probably just decline. My Ladybug leads a pretty busy life, you know.”

“I’m sure she’d find time for her kitty…” Marinette trailed off, unsure if she was telling the truth or not. In all honesty, her friends in her civilian life weren’t the only ones she had neglected at times. It was only now that she was realizing that she’d slowly been drifting away from Chat Noir as well. She frantically rummaged through her memories. When was the last time they’d just sat and talked in the masks?

“Don’t be so sure.” He sighed. “I can’t blame her, though. _I’m_ the one that is struggling with taking no for an answer. Maybe if I were stronger I could move on, but…” He shook his head. “Sorry, I meant for this to be fun and not about me complaining.”

After a moment of hesitation, she stepped up beside him and patted his back. “I’d rather help my friend stop being miserable than have fun in ignorance. How ‘bout you tell me all about it?” 

Her stomach growled, catching them both by surprised. He laughed, loud and genuine while Marinette pouted at him through her blush.

“Sure, but what if talk over dinner?”

“Are we heading home then?”

He gave her a sly grin. “Not quite.”

\---------------------------------

As the waiter left the empty room, lit only by a single light from above and the candles on the table, Marinette could only wonder at what sort of life her partner lead when he went on patrols. Somehow, he’d befriended the owner of this Italian restaurant and now he let him use this extra space whenever Chat wanted to stop by for a meal after hours. Only this time, they’d make special preparations since it was ‘Chat and his plus one.’

“I get the feeling there is a story behind all this,” she said as she leaned forward on the table. A bottle of wine sat on the table, their glasses yet to be filled since Chat had declined the waiter’s offer to fill them.

“Compared to fighting supervillains, it really isn’t interesting,” he replied while opening the corked bottle with his claws. To her surprise, he pulled it off easily. “I stopped the owner from being mugged one night and he wouldn’t let me leave until I promised to visit his restaurant to repay him.” He stopped talking for a moment to fill their glasses halfway. “I try to pay him for the occasional dish, but he always refuses.”

“So then you decided to set all this up for our outing today? Seems a bit much, even for you.”

He actually seemed embarrassed as he ducked his head and blushed. “I didn’t have anything to do with this.” He put his hand on his heart while taking a sip of the wine. “Cat’s honor. I just wanted a meal since I figured we’d get hungry. Velio was the one that did all this,” he gestured to the high-class set up of their table.

“Velio? Is that the owner?” Chat nodded. “Hm… I see.” She took a sip from her glass. “So what do you want to talk about? I think we were on the topic of Ladybug earlier.”

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather talk about something else.”

She reached out to take his hand in hers. “Trust me when I say I understand completely. I’ve been there - I’m _still_ there. We can’t change what we’ve done, and how we’ve done them. But we can do our best to move on, right?” Inside the comfort of her own mind she wondered - was she talking to Chat, or herself?

Slowly, he nodded. “Yeah, I suppose so. It just… for so long, I’ve felt like she was the one, you know?” His eyes gleamed with unshed tears. “It's hard to just move on from a whole life that I’ve built up with her in my head. Especially knowing how me pushing so hard for it might have been what destroyed it.”

How could she answer that without outting herself as Ladybug? How could she reply that she would've given him a chance if it weren't for Adrien? Instead, they sat in silence. For a few minutes, there was nothing else to be said that they didn’t both already feel. Still holding hands tightly, they let a few tears escape and simply basked in the understanding that they both understood each other perfectly - perhaps the first time Marinette had felt that with anyone beyond her kwami in a long time. When they heard the waiter approaching, they quickly dabbed at their eyes and pulled back their hands, pretending that everything was fine as he delivered their meals.

Their talk didn’t stray back into heavy territory, but then it didn’t need to. Both were content just to chat with each other over a well cooked Italian meal - a meal which Marinette noted was suspiciously like the one that Chat had made for her birthday. Maybe she could convince Chat to bring her here more often, or at least bring take out from here more often. 

And if that meant she got to share more dinners with Chat Noir, well, she certainly wouldn’t complain.

\----------------------

There was one last stop Adrien had wanted to make before taking Marinette home, but he needed to wait until it was dark enough to ensure their privacy.

He landed at the ice skating rink and she raised an eyebrow, still latched onto his neck as he cradled her in his arms. It had been a little awkward at first, being so close together, but it wasn’t like they were strangers to physical contact. The many times they’d fallen asleep on each other during a movie marathon attested to that. Besides, although it wasn’t as cold as it had been in the last few weeks, it was still chilly enough that a little extra body heat went a long way. Especially since it was clear she didn’t like the winter weather in the least. 

A lot like someone else he knows...

“I don’t know about this, kitty. I’m not exactly graceful.” Marinette brought him out of his thoughts as he set her down, pushing aside strange coincidences that were lining up in his head. “And besides, isn’t this place closed for the night?”

Adrien grinned. “Normally, it is, but thankfully I have connections.”

“What’d you do this time? Save their cat from a tree?”

“No, I rented it for an hour and paid extra to rent it at night.” The honesty caught Marinette off her guard, but instead of being touched, she smacked him on the arm. “Hey, what was that for?”

“How much did you spend?! You shouldn’t be going around blowing your money on me like this, you ridiculous cat!” Despite her words, she was smiling, though there was a little worry in her eyes.

“A gentlecat never spends and tells.” She didn’t need to know it had cost three hundred euros, even after a superhero discount. He could easily afford it, after all.

“That’s not a saying.”

“It is and you’d know that if you spent more time around gentlecats,” he took her by the hand and dragged her towards the locker rooms. “Now come on, there are some shoes and gloves this way.” He looked back at her playfully. “And maybe some pads if you are really feeling clumsy.”

She huffed, but didn’t argue. “...Fine. But you better not let me fall!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, purrincess.”

\------------------

Chat left her seated on the benches as he ducked into the back to grab them their gear, leaving Marinette alone with her thoughts for a few moments. It had been a strange night so far. But strange hadn’t been bad. Sailing through Paris through the strength of her partner rather than her own power had been hard to get used to, but it was exhilarating once she was. Visiting the spots that Chat had discovered when he was supposed to be patrolling. And he promised that there was more where those came from, if she wanted to try this again. 

She had told him maybe, but what she had wanted to say was yes, absolutely. 

“Here you go,” Chat appeared beside her, passing her a bag of equipment as he took a seat beside her. He held the shoes in his hands and asked, “Do you think Ladybug would be mad at me if I used my frost powers to skip putting on these?”

“ _I_ think that would be an abuse of power. I can’t imagine Ladybug would think otherwise.” 

Laughing, he replied, “Yeah, you’re probably right. She always viewed this,” he flexed his claws on the hand that his ring was on, “as more of a duty or part time job.”

“Really?” While he wasn’t wrong, Marinette was surprised. “What do you see it as?”

He stopped trying to leverage his boots off as he considered her question. His response left her stunned. 

“An escape.” 

Before she could question it, he’d managed to pop the boot off with a victorious shout, quickly replacing it with a warm sock and ice skate. It reminded her that she hadn’t even gotten started and she rushed to catch up, still pondering the implications of Chat’s reply. She knew he didn’t have a great home life, but could fighting supervillains and risking his life really be better than what he had before? While she started working on the pads, he glanced down at her boots and knelt down to untie them.

“Uh, Chat, what are you doing?”

“No offense, purrincess, but that knot was going to come undone really quick.” He looked up at her with a grin. “I’m _purrfectly_ happy to catch you when you fall tonight, but even so I’d like to keep it to a minimum.”

She grumbled, but let him redo the lacing and knots. This was the first time she’d gone ice skating in almost ten years, after all, and he seemed to know what he was doing. Soon enough and she was taking her first wobbling steps on the ice, Chat skating along beside her as if he belonged there. Watching him move so effortlessly required her to take her eyes off what she was doing, though, and suddenly the ice was rushing up to meet her. As she screwed her eyes shut and waited for the impact, a pair of strong arms caught her 

As he set her back on her feet, he smiled gently “Here - take my hand and we’ll do a few laps around the rink. That should help you get your bearing.”

With some trepidation - she had _some_ pride, after all - she took his hand and felt herself being pulled slowly along the edge of the rink. One hand in Chat’s and the other along the barrier, she spent most of her time focused on their movement and staying on two feet. After a couple laps, they drifted away from the wall, but she still had her Chat Noir lifeline. She became comfortable enough to take her eyes off the ground and start enjoying how she was gliding across the ice. 

Even then, she didn’t let go of Chat’s hand. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to mind. 

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when her legs began to ache and wobble. Maybe he could sense her fatigue, or maybe he was starting to get exhausted too, but either way, he lead them to the benches and they got out of their gear.

Taking off her safety pads, Marinette said with a chuckle, “With you around, I don’t think I needed these. I’ll remember that for the next time.”

Chat Noir looked over at her in surprise, which quickly shifted to a pleasant smile. “So there will be a next time, then?”

“Well,” she said while undoing Chat’s knots, “it doesn’t quite beat a movie marathon or home cooked Italian, but a change of pace is nice, don’t you think?” 

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” he laughed.

\----------------

Not long after, Marinette was back home and under her sheets. From what Adrien had noticed with her barely being able to keep her eyes open, she would probably be out cold already. He stopped for a moment to look back into her cozy apartment, one foot on the windowsill and one foot inside her space. 

“Good night, Marinette.”

And then he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand I'm back, hopefully without any more delays for this month. Thank you all for the kind words about my brief absence, it was very reassuring as I got other projects in line and went through my busy, busy week.


	10. Victorian AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien deals with his father, and Marinette wakes up from a weird dream.

“...And on the fourteenth, you have been scheduled for your penultimate winter shoot of the season, the final being for the middle of January. Do you understand so far?”

“Yes, father,” Adrien lifelessly replied, making another note in his schedule book. 

The photoshoot didn’t really matter to him - all he cared about was that it was another day that he wouldn’t be able to meet with Marinette. A glance at all the other dates in December reminded him that his father was certainly keeping him busy this month. That wasn’t anything new; father liked to stay busy during the holidays and now that Adrien was technically an adult, he made sure that Adrien stayed busy too. Whether he wanted to be or not.

“...Which brings us to the New Year’s Party that the Mayor is throwing. You will, of course, be attending. We have already selected your date for the evening.”

 _That_ brought Adrien out of the stupor he often fell into while talking with his father. “Excuse me?”

Gabriel sighed. “Not paying attention again? I _said_ that you will be attending the New Year’s Party and with a girl of my choosing. What is there not to understand?”

Plenty. He’d let his father dictate a lot of his life but if there was anything that was Adrien’s alone, it was his choice of date. Even if it was just for one party, which Adrien severely doubted. His father had already dropped hints for the last few years that it would be good for the brand if Adrien had a public relationship with another model. Purely as a PR stunt, of course. 

“I’m sorry, father, but I will not be attending. I have prior plans.” Likely sensing trouble, Plagg appeared from his vacation home and watched his chosen carefully. His ears twitched as he no doubt tried to listen in on Gabriel’s side.

“That’s absurd,” his father replied, “I have heard of no such plans. You simply don’t want to go to this party, but that is irrelevant. What matters is that this gathering will help improve our standing.”

“All due respect, father, but I don’t need to tell you about every single plan I make, especially when it is over two weeks away.” Adrien did his best to ignore the stab of pain in his heart from his father’s disbelief, and the surging tide of panic he felt at defying him. Plagg was doing his best to silently goad him on, and he wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or angry at him for it.

“If this plan is real, then tell me exactly where it is you plan on going. This lowbrow party that is so much more important than your duties to your family and our company.”

“First, it won’t be lowbrow. Second, I learned my lesson the last couple times I told you about my plans and _suddenly_ those plans got cancelled or I got mysteriously uninvited.” Maybe the snide tone was pushing it. His father certainly didn’t appreciate it. “I’m twenty three years old, father. I can make my own decisions.”

“I don’t care how old you are, you are my _son_ and the face of this company!” 

Adrien winced at his father abruptly shouting at him. That normally wasn’t his style, but maybe the reminder of his age reminded him of another big anniversary coming up soon. Even after all these years, he hadn’t managed to move on. With that in mind, he did his best to stifle his emotions as his father let loose with all his pent up anger and frustration. After a few minutes, his father had to stop for breath and Adrien deliberately misinterpreted that as him ending the conversation.

“If that is all, father, then I have things that I need to attend to. Goodbye.”

“Now you wait just a-” Click. 

As if hanging up on his father expended all the anger that he had built up, Adrien simply let the phone fall from his limp fingers onto the couch. He wasn’t sure how long he spent staring at the floor, but it didn’t matter. Soon enough his vision became blurry and the tears began to come in full force.

Plagg didn’t have anything to say, no ancient wisdom, or platitudes about cheese, nothing. Instead, he just curled up against Adrien’s neck and did his best to comfort him with his presence.

\---------------------------------

_It was late. Much too late. The clocks had already chimed the hour and he had promised her that he would arrive no later._

_She was just about to call on Tikki when there was a knock at her balcony window. At three stories up, at midnight, there could only be one person out there. Raising the edge of her dress, she rushed to the balcony doors and threw them open, relief flooding her when she saw his easy grin shining back at her._

_“Bit of an odd day to see you in all yer fineries, m’lady,” the ruffian bowed his head to her from his position sitting on the railing of her balcony. His attire was the same as it always was when he used his powers - all black, from his greatcoat down to his stiff pants and boots. The only color was the gold trim on his ornate mask, and a flower in his top hat._

_“As much as I would love it, I cannot be in my sleuthing uniform at all times, Tom.” She shook her head. “What do you have for me?”_

_“Not so quick, my sweet lady. I have a fee for my information, if you recall. I risked much for this knowledge and the Black Tom does nothing for free.” He leaned forward until their faces were barely a finger’s breadth apart._

_Rolling his eyes at his antics, she moved quickly to grab the hair on the back of his head and step forward, crashing her lips against his. His ‘fee’ wasn’t much of one, given their ongoing secret relationship, but he so loved his dramatics. She didn’t have the heart to deprive him of so simple a joy, and if it kept him happy, then so be it. After a few heartbeats of indecency, she pulled away, resting her forehead against his as they both got their breath back._

_“I always pay a fair price. Now give me the clues I need, Tom, or that will be the last payment you ever receive from me.”_

_She could hear him gulp as he followed her into her room. A button pressed and a secret door opened to her base of operations in the fight against the evils that lurked within London._

_“It’s about as bad as Mister Fu claimed,” Tom stood on the opposite side of her table where she had placed a map of the city. A great web of annotations cluttered the space and only made sense to her eyes. “Occultists are up to something. My contacts on the streets couldn’t tell me much besides that, but something big is about to happen.”_

_“I’ll pass word along to Fu. Maybe he can find out more.”_

_“I hope your trust in this mysterious man is worth it. Not right, all this mucking about with spirits and such, but at least we got one of them on our side. Evens the odds a little.”_

_“That’s the hope. What about the opium den?”_

_Tom paled. “Well, good news is we won’t have to worry about them anymore. Some kinda monster got in their hideout.” A shiver went through him. “When you said we’d be cleaning up crime, I didn’t think it’d be with a mop and bucket, sweet bird.”_

_She tapped at her chin in thought. “Maybe the monster didn’t get into their hideout…” Tom raised an eyebrow but didn’t respond, knowing full well how she worked. “Maybe the monster escaped the hideout.”_

_“What? You don’t think…?”_

_“This is just conjecture at the moment. I’ll be stopping by the scene of the crime tomorrow evening and seeing what the boys from Scotland Yard have missed.”_

_Tom stepped over to her to take her hand in his. “Be careful out there, my lady. Rough times are coming, I’m sure of it.”_

\-----------------------------------------

As close as they were to the middle of winter, it was no surprise that the sun wasn’t out yet. Even if Marinette was woken up early by another strange dream. One good thing she could say about these… dreams? Memories? Flashbacks? One of the good things she could say about them was that they at least left her fully awake. 

While she fumbled for her phone, Marinette whispered into the darkness, “Tikki? Tikki, are you awake?”

Somewhere beside her head, she heard her kwami’s reply, “I’m here. Is something the matter? Did you have another dream?”

She finally found her phone. Seven in the morning, one new message. Funneling that information aside for now, she answered Tikki, “Yes. This one felt much more vivid than the last. This time, I could feel what she was feeling as if I were there.” Marinette gave herself a moment to really think about what she remembered in the dream. “...What did the Black Tom and his Ladybug face? It didn’t sound like they were fighting akuma.”

There was a long pause. “The Lady in Red. That was her name.”

“Huh?”

“That was her name - the Ladybug of that time was called the Lady in Red. She was a detective.”

“Oh. She seemed… good at what she did.” Marinette wasn’t sure how to proceed. Tikki almost never talked about past Ladybugs and when she did it was always very vague. This was the first time she had ever named one of Marinette’s predecessors.

“She was amazing! I just know you two would’ve gotten along like best friends.” 

Marinette finally found the lamp switch and saw Tikki sitting on the pillow beside her, staring wistfully into the distance. It was easy to forget how old her cookie-loving best friend was - how many Ladybugs she had guided. Would she talk about Marinette in the same way? 

Pushing those thoughts out of the way before existential dread could set in, Marinette asked again, “What did the Black Tom and the Lady in Red fight?”

“Master Fu chose them because of magical threats that were on the rise in London. The empire of the day had gathered a lot of mystical artifacts and tinkered with them, leading to… bad things happening.” Tikki finally turned back to Marinette and gave a half smile. “But don’t worry! Magic has faded so much from the world that the only artifacts really left are the Miraculous.”

“Considering at least one of those is in the hands of a supervillain, that doesn’t really comfort me a lot.” Marinette threw her legs over the side of her bed and Tikki floated up onto her shoulder. “Let’s get started with the day.”

A short while later, Marinette was making breakfast when she finally remembered to check her new message, which happened to be from Chat Noir.

 **Chat Noir:** Sorry I cant meet up anytime soon :( But! I’m going to a New Year’s Eve masquerade party. Want to meet up with me there? I’ll be in a Zorro outfit with a green sash.

It took a moment for Marinette to process that she would be meeting up with Chat Noir outside the masks - at least, outside the magical masks. Would she recognize him? Did the magic block work while they were in their civilian forms? Although she had given some thought to trying to go to the workplace party again, this invitation was too good to pass up. There were still two weeks, which would be plenty of time to make a dress for the masquerade. 

If she just so happened to include a lot of red and maybe have a Ladybug mask, then who could blame her? Maybe her kitty could use a hint or two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I may have accidentally fallen in love with the Victorian era miraculous duo and created a plot outline for that AU.


	11. Mask Ball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette attend a New Year's party together.

Even though the rented space was large, the dim lights and mob of people made it feel much smaller than it was. While there was still plenty of space to move around, Adrien had detached from the throng and was seated in a quiet spot near the food and drinks. There wasn’t really anyone he knew here - not yet, anyway. Another advantage of this spot was it was easy to keep track of the entrances. Hopefully he’d see Marinette the moment she entered. Until then, he was left alone with his thoughts. And boy was there a lot to think about.

His father, for instance. He’d always been demanding, but usually that had taken the form of keeping Adrien close at hand. Everything from renting him a house close to the Agreste mansion, to having him work at the Agreste fashion house, to planning every facet of his life that Gabriel could get his hands on. Which is why his father’s most recent demands had come as such a shock. 

Why would Gabriel Agreste - infamously overprotective father and control freak - want to send Adrien abroad for an indeterminate amount of time? It wasn’t just the complete turn around in his father’s years long plots that made Adrien uneasy, it was the timing. The anniversary was coming up soon. Just under more two weeks to go. 

One would think that the upcoming ten year anniversary of his mother’s disappearance would be weighing on his mind, but the truth was that he’d moved on ages ago. Friends and therapists and time had helped him through it. His father? He had only sunk further into bitterness and anger. But there was something else. It sounded weird to say - so weird that he hadn’t even mentioned it to Plagg - but it felt like his father was getting desperate. Why?

He shook his head and struggled to stop worrying about it. Regardless of what was going through his father’s head, Adrien had no desire to leave Paris. While there was his duties as Chat Noir, he found that the strongest tie that bound him to the city he loved was a beautiful, talented woman who had seen fit to become his friend. This last month of being barely able to squeeze in time to see her had been torture after visiting so often. 

Now if she could just hurry her butt up and get here so he could start basking in her presence, everything would be fine…

\------------------------------

With a last check to make sure this was the address that Chat Noir had sent her, Marinette took a deep breath for courage before pushing open the door. Inside, the large space was mostly filled by knots of people in varying levels of fashionable clothes laughing, drinking, and dancing. She breathed a sigh of relief - not everyone was dressed as a character, like Chat Noir said he would be. There were certainly some, but most were just dressed nicely. 

She frowned as she scanned the groups of people, searching for someone tall, blonde, handsome and dressed all in black. Except for a green sash, apparently. Worry started to creep in when she realized that no one of that description was milling about on the floor. Did he change costume? No, he would have texted her. Did he leave? The thought was dismissed almost as soon as it occurred to her. Chat Noir would have stayed here all night to meet up with her. 

It was then that she saw a lonesome figure blending in with the shadows across the room. He’d taken off his black hat, leaving his blonde hair free. It was surprisingly well tended to, compared to the mop that she normally saw. A lime green sash, partially concealed by the black cape, perfectly suited his summer green eyes framed by an unfamiliar fabric mask. It turns out that he didn’t even need to bother with the sash - just from seeing those eyes against the black, she would have been able to pick him out from the crowd. 

She refrained from running up to him when she saw the look on his face. He was frowning down at the table in front of him, wearing as pensive an expression as she had ever seen the feline hero wear. Clearly, this was going to require a more subtle touch.

\----------------------------

It all happened very quickly. 

One moment, Adrien was thinking about how he’d have to confront his father once again, and then the next someone had latched themselves around his chest in a hug. Before he could do anything, Marinette’s voice appeared right next to his ear.

“Hey, kitty! You get cleaned up nicely.” He only had a few brief heartbeats of returning the hug when she pulled away. She moved in front of him, giving him a good look at the dress she was wearing.

It reminded him of something out of old Hollywood. It was full length with a scoop neckline, fitted through the hips with intricate crystal beading covering the bodice. Lace gloves that ended at the wrist covered her hands as she smoothed out her dress. His eyes lingered on the slit in her dress that ended at just above her knee. It took a feat of heroic willpower to pull his gaze towards her eyes, and that was where his willpower failed him. He hadn’t noticed her mask until now. How was he supposed to function when he saw those vibrant blue eyes staring out at him from Ladybug’s colors?

As the moments dragged out, Marinette’s smile grew. “Cat got your tongue, kitty?”

“You look beautiful,” he blurted out. To his pleasure, she blushed as much as he did. 

“I, well-” She cleared her throat. “Thank you, Chat. You look _pawsitively_ dashing tonight.”

“Please don’t pun. My heart can’t take it.” They shared a laugh, light and carefree. Despite the way his heart was pounding, he was determined to at least sound casual. “Your dress is exceptional. Where did you get it?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Why would I buy a dress when I could make one?”

“You _made_ that?!” Marinette silenced him with a hand over his mouth and glanced around after his loud outburst, but the only ones who even heard were those closest to them. After a curious look in their direction, everyone was content to return to their conversations. He shrugged apologetically and she leaned back into her seat with a roll of her eyes.

“Yes, I made it.” She fiddled with the crystals. “You wouldn’t believe how long these took to sew on.” 

“I think I can guess,” Adrien replied, thinking of the long nights he’d seen his father at work on designs. She looked up at him strangely. “Uh, I’ve been watching you at work for months now, right? I got a sense of how hard particular parts of it can be.” He propped his chin up on his hand. “That really is a wonderful dress. And an amazing sweater. And quality mittens. You’re very good at what you do, you know.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm. The best.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but you’ll just have to trust that it means a lot coming from me.”

A warm smile lit up her face. “It already does, kitty.”

\----------------------------

A couple glasses later and the two of them were an hour deep into conversation. There was still plenty of time before midnight rolled around, but Chat Noir had stumbled across an embarrassing fact about Marinette. She blamed her lack of discretion on the slight buzz from the quality wine - a perfectly sober Marinette would’ve taken an hour longer to spill the beans.

“You can’t dance?!” Chat whisper shouted, scandalized.

“I've _tried_ plenty of times, but I’m… well, I’m clumsy and its hard to get anywhere without falling over or stepping on my partner.” 

Chat shook his head and stood up, putting his hat on as he did. She blinked up at him as he held out his hand for her. 

“C’mon! I’ll teach you.”

“Chat…” She looked around the room full of people and frowned. She prefered to make a fool of herself in more private locations. “I don’t know if-”

“Do you trust me?”

She was drawn back to his eyes - unaltered by the magic of the miraculous, eyes filled with earnestness and hope. She took his hand and he lead her towards the dance floor. 

There was a lull in people dancing, so when they started it was mostly just the two of them moving slowly in a circle, vaguely in time to the music. Her eyes darted around to the people watching them and Marinette felt herself wither under their scrutiny.

She whispered to him, “Kitty, maybe we should just-”

He’d followed where she was looking and gently pushed her chin so she was looking back at him. “Hey, don’t pay any attention to them, princess. It’s just you and me here right now. Just the two of us, dancing the night away on New Year’s Eve.” He shifted closer to her to whisper conspiratorially in her ear. “Besides, they’re just jealous that we’re the hottest people here.”

She snorted and playfully pushed him away with her shoulder, but she listened to him. After making sure she was following his lead, she redirected her attention to his emerald eyes, now so human. The rest of the world faded away as she got her bearings. And all without stepping on his feet more than twice! Even when they switched to more energetic dancing, she managed to keep up with him. She raised an eyebrow in challenge when she took the lead, which he accepted with a grin. For all his talk, he didn’t seem to been a much better dancer than her. All he had going for him was he didn’t trip over his own feet. 

They were dancing for over an hour by now and Marinette’s head rested on Chat Noir’s chest. The soft fabric was definitely preferable to his sturdy leather, at least as a pillow. They were interrupted by their slow swaying by the lights turning off and the large television at the back of the room lighting up to show a countdown. Chat lead her towards where everyone else was gathering while Marinette noticed that the people were breaking off into pairs. She gripped his hand more tightly as her heart skipped a beat. She had made up her mind. Maybe it was time to let Adrien go.

\----------------------------

Adrien counted down with everyone else and cheered just as loudly when the New Year came. Or at least, he tried to. It was hard to cheer, after all, when Marinette was kissing him. 

After a brief moment of surprise, he melted into her embrace and pulled her close to deepen the kiss. As far as he was concerned, it was the perfect start to the new year.


	12. Post Reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of a reveal of their feelings for one another, our heroes gather their courage to reveal their identities to each other.

The rest of the night passed by in a blur for Marinette. At least, what little remained of it. Neither of them were much good for conversation after they shared a kiss to ring in the new year. Every time they’d try to talk, their eyes would meet and a furious blush would follow. It didn’t bother her, though - she could tell from the doofy smiles that they both wore that neither of them regretted it. Even better, she hadn’t felt this kind of giddiness in years. 

Eventually, they said their goodbyes as well as they could while grinning from ear to ear. Chat Noir walked her to her apartment and just like the gentleman he liked to paint himself as, gave her a kiss on her hand before leaving. It felt… strange to let him do it after denying it for so many years as Ladybug. But then, none of those moments had been the right time. 

She had wanted to talk with Tikki about it as soon as she had reached the privacy of her apartment, pour her heart out and try to sort through the feelings that were raging inside her. If anyone could help decide her next course of action, it would be her constant companion for all these years. But she didn’t make it much further than swapping her dress for a shower and pajamas. With only a whispered good night to Tikki, Marinette drifted off into a pleasant sleep.

\-------------------------------------

_There they were, spinning and twirling across the empty expanse of the ballroom floor, lost in a sea of glittering light and soothing music. No words were spoken between them - no words were needed. When they parted, it was a momentary sorrow, but she needed the space for what happened next._

_In a flash of red light, her gown was replaced with her Ladybug suit. She felt exposed to Chat Noir for the first time in a long time before his stony faced expression melted into one of tearful joy. As he moved forward, his transformation dropped. Before she could get a look at him, he was holding her close. He cupped her chin and kissed as if it would be their last._

\-------------------------------------

Marinette woke up feeling warmer than what she would have expected for so cold a January morning. Days had passed since the party, and she’d been kept too busy by her post-Christmas commission work to truly process her emotions. As she carefully packaged the last of those commissions, her final excuse for not giving her feelings the attention they deserved fell apart. 

“Tikki?” 

Her kwami tore her eyes off of her favorite cooking show as she gave Marinette her full attention. “Yes?”

“Do you think its time?”

There was a pregnant pause. “Are you sure you want to do this, Marinette? Our reasons for keeping your identities a secret hasn’t changed. Hawkmoth is still on the loose, after all, and the more a secret is known, the harder it is to keep.”

“I’m sure. We can’t go any further in our relationship if we keep secrets like these, and he deserves to know that I… that I’ve been Ladybug all this time we’ve been friends.”

Tikki put a comforting paw on Marinette’s cheek. “It’s okay, I’m sure he will understand. Love can be a very difficult emotion, even at the best of times. But...” she continued cautiously, “...what about Adrien?”

A fair question - what _about_ Adrien, the boy that had so thoroughly captured her heart that even the long years of barely seeing him hadn’t tarnished her affection for him? The boy who had turned her down due to a love of someone else? A single present from him for her birthday had scared the life out of her, a reminder of the friendship that had been ruined by poor timing. 

“I love Adrien. But after spending so much time with Chat Noir, seeing the person under the bravado and awful puns... seeing the kindness, the gentleness underneath…” She took a deep breath. “...I’ve fallen for him too.” A sudden wave of anxiety washed over her. “Is that wrong?”

With a knowing smile, Tikki shook her head. “No, Marinette. It isn’t wrong. We can’t choose what our hearts want. The only thing that is wrong is trying to pursue both at once, but I can see you’ve made your decision.” Her face became creased with worry. “But you remember what Alya had said - what are you going to do if Adrien and Chat Noir end up being the same person?”

It was hard to forget, despite her best efforts. She had tried to mentally write off the fact that when _Adrien_ promised he’d show up, _Chat Noir_ actually did. Coincidences happen all the time and it was easy to see Adrien making a promise that he couldn’t keep, and Chat Noir showed up frequently enough anyway. But her heart had refused to give up on the notion that the two men were one an the same. 

“Honestly? I don’t know whether I would laugh or cry. Probably some of both. So much of this pain could have been avoided, but at least it means we could move on together.”

Tikki considered this for a long time before replying. “I trust your judgement, Marinette. If you want to reveal your identity to Chat Noir, then I approve.”

She cupped Tikki out of the air and brought her close to her face to nuzzle her. “Thank you, Tikki. You won’t regret this, I promise.”

\-----------------------------------------

Adrien was pacing the length of his living room. Again. The events of the New Years party had been replaying in his head over and over during the past few days and it was becoming clear something needed to be done, one way or another. They couldn’t go on like this anymore. 

The choice seemed simple. If he couldn’t keep Marinette without revealing his identity, then he had to reveal his identity. But he was afraid. How would she react to his deception, getting close to her while concealing that he was the same person that broke her heart? _He_ was having difficulty forgiving himself over that. After all, he fell in love with her in the end. He could’ve skipped all the years of loneliness and heartbreak, but he had been too smitten with Ladybug to even consider anyone else.

Ladybug… He was worried about her too. How would she feel when he asked her if he could reveal himself to a civilian? Would she forbid it? Her commitment to duty was strong and had carried unwavering through the years. With a deep breath, he calmed himself down a little. For just this once, he had to decide for himself and let go of basing his life around Ladybug. He would let her know after the fact. She deserved at least that much.

“Geez, are you just about done? You’re making me exhausted just watching you.” Plagg snarked at him through a mouthful of cheese.

He stopped his pacing to turn to his kwami. “I’m going to do it. The first night we both have free. I’m going to go over to her apartment and tell her who I am.”

Plagg was silent for a moment before cackling. “Finally! You two have been a mess to watch. It’s about time this happens. I’m sure you’ll be great together.” He floated over to Adrien and passed him a small wedge of camembert. “Here, an early wedding present.”

Chuckling, Adrien shook his head. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m ready to move forward, but who knows if Marinette will want anything to do with me after this.”

Rolling his eyes, Plagg replied, “Somehow, I think everything will turn out just fine, kid.”


	13. Villain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien rushes to find Marinette, hoping to reveal his identity to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, all cards on the table - this chapter and the next few aren't going to be fluffy (or at least purely fluffy), which was probably a given since the prompts are "Villain", "Angst", "Found", and "Ghost". I just wanted to give warning since while I've been alluding to a mood shift, it might still come as jarring given how lightheartedly fluffy the last few chapters have been. 
> 
> Just remember this - I only write happy endings. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Adrien soared through the cold night air with a singular purpose, just as his heart was soaring high in anticipation for what he was about to do. There was a touch of panic and dread, which was to be expected. He was, after all, about to share a secret that he had kept faithfully from his loved ones for over a decade. Even so, he knew he was making the right decision by telling her. She deserved to know before they went any further with their budding relationship.

Marinette’s apartment came into view and the first thing that struck him was that the lights were out. Granted, it was night, but it wasn’t _that_ late in the evening. Perhaps she was just working in her bedroom or something. His peppy mood wasn’t about to be demolished by a weird circumstance. Without giving it any more thought, he landed on her windowsill and let himself in. 

Before any of his senses picked up anything, he felt something was wrong, deep in his gut. Then his senses started filtering in clues. Marinette always had _something_ playing - videos, movies, TV shows, anything to fill the space while she worked. But all he heard was silence. Marinette was a skilled baker and the scent of sugary delights was often in the air. But he smelled nothing. Marinette’s space was usually messy, to be sure, but it was the creative mess of a mind bent towards creation. But as his eyes shifted from the darkness of the City of Lights at night to the darkness of an empty apartment, all he saw was destruction. 

There had been a struggle. The television was busted. Fabrics were thrown around, torn, unspooled. Diner had been turned over and arrabbiata sauce had been tracked through the kitchen. With a dull dread, he found a letter left on the kitchen table, miraculously spared from the mess of the kitchen. An envelope emblazoned with a familiar butterfly pattern. Trembling hands opened it and read the letter inside.

“Chat Noir,

Did you think you were clever, taunting me all these years? Taking up a lover while I mourned the loss of mine? Did you think you were stealthy? Nightly trips, deviations from your usual patrols, all to the same location? Did you really believe it would go unnoticed.

No. 

I have taken Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I will be willing to trade her back for your ring. And hurry - my graciousness does not last forever.

Remember: This is all your fault. In opposing me, and involving bystanders with your recklessness.

Sincerely, 

Hawkmoth.”

On the back of the letter he found an address - an abandoned warehouse, which in any other circumstance might have had Adrien rolling his eyes at how cliche it was. Right now, he didn’t have much of a reaction at all as he read an extra note that Hawkmoth had left for him beside the address and a terrible anger rose up within him.

“Come alone.”

\-------------------------------------

Groggily, Marinette woke up to a pounding headache. The world was a blur and her thoughts were moving very sluggishly as she struggled to remember what happened. It was when she tried to rub her eyes and she realized that she couldn’t move her hands that she began to take in her situation. 

She was sitting on a chair. More accurately, she was duct taped to a chair, her legs stuck to the legs of the chair and her arms tied together behind her back. There was a spotlight on her from directly above, the only source of light in the entire space. Because of this, she couldn’t see anything beyond the circle of illumination. 

“There isn’t _time_ for this, he should have been here by now!”

She squinted and craned her neck towards the voice, where she saw a vague outline that could possibly be a person rambling to himself. The voice felt… familiar. Cold ice ran down her spine as she remembered none other than Hawkmoth had invaded her home. Her eyes widened in shock, which she instantly regretted as pain lanced through her temple. A brief memory flared - a dark cane sailing unerringly toward her face and then blackness.

“I need those miraculous. The time for games is over.”

There was a brief surge of panic before she felt her earrings still in place. She breathed a sigh of relief which only redoubled when Tikki patted her comfortingly within her shirt. This relief was short lived as a man in purple with a silver mask burst into the light and pulled her head up to look at him. She was shocked at the mask of desperate anger on his face, but not so shocked that she didn’t return his glare.

“Where. Is. Chat Noir?”

“How should I know?” She spat defiantly back at him. Something about him seemed off. Their long campaign against Hawkmoth had lead her to believe he was calculating and cautious. Why was he in the field now, after so long?

Suddenly he was next to her face and growled at her, “Don’t play _lie_ to me, Ms. Dupain-Cheng.” He continued in a low voice. “I have more than enough evidence that the two of you are more than mere acquaintances.” 

She remained silent. He took a step back and straightened his suit before turning his back on her.

“Very well. I’m sure he will be coming. I just need to be patient.”

Silence reigned while Marinette tried to put her thoughts into some kind of order. Deciding to take action, she tried to fish for information. “What makes you think you can beat Chat Noir now, after every single one of your plans has failed so far?”

“I am no mere akuma and I am more than an equal for any other miraculous user. Besides,” He grinned evilly as a figure stepped out of the shadows to stand next to him. For an akuma, she looked very calm and in control of herself. “...I like to hedge my chances. He will arrive alone, and I will take his miraculous from him.”

“What makes you think he will even come out here at all? He wouldn’t risk his miraculous for me!” The words sounded hollow even to her. Chat Noir had always been the more emotionally motivated of the duo. 

“For your sake, he had better come.” He nodded his head towards her and the akuma villain stepped forward to put duct tape on her mouth. “Can’t have you be warning our valiant knight, hm?” He sighed and turned away, stepping into the shadows. His voice echoed in the darkness. “The things we do for love…”

\--------------------------

Adrien burst open the doors with a superhuman punch, the rotten wood splintering apart as they were forced off their hinges. It was petty, he knew, but it felt good to practice what he intended to do to Hawkmoth. 

She was towards the back, illuminated by an old light hanging from the ceiling. Even from this distance, he could see the bruise forming on her temple, the blood on the side of her face. He rushed forward to free her, but something felt wrong. Her eyes were wide open as she watched him approach and she frantically tried to tell him something.

Unnoticed by him, two figures stepped out of the shadows behind him...


	14. Angst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final climatic showdown between our heroes and Hawkmoth.

Adrien had almost reached Marinette when someone grabbed him by the arm. His reflexes, honed over their long struggle against Hawkmoth, were sharpened even more by the intensity of their situation. In one clean motion, he had seized the person, tore them off of him, and had thrown them away from him. Instead of falling to the ground gracelessly, the stranger flipped in the air and landed in a crouch. 

The akuma villain - since that was clearly what she was now that he could see her - was an oddly familiar woman whose black hair had an unnaturally bright red streak through it. And that was the most normal thing about her - bright blue skin and a blank face that reflected like a mirror, all in what seemed to be an exaggerated business suit. As he watched, a flood of black energy washed over her, replacing her suit with a copy of his and in her mirror face, he saw his own features reflected and take a life of their own. She reached behind her to pull a copy of his baton off her back and settled into a combat stance similar to his own. He tore his attention off of her when he heard someone behind him speak.

“Chat Noir,” Hawkmoth drawled, walking out of the shadows but stopping twenty paces away from him. The intended effect was ruined since Adrien could see just as well in darkness, but it was the thought that counted. “This farce has gone on long enough. Paris suffers merely because you wanted to play hero, and now look what you’ve done,” he gestured to Marinette, “dragging innocent bystanders into the crossfire.”

Adrien’s eyes darted between Hawkmoth and the unsettling akuma who was inching her way around him. 

“But I am not without mercy. Give me your miraculous and the both of you can walk out of here unmolested.” His hands rested on his cane, firmly planted against the ground. Adrien looked back at Marinette, saw the blood caked on the side of her face. He returned his eyes back to the cane.

Adrien took a deep breath in preparation for what he was about to say and saw Hawkmoth lean forward slightly in anticipation. 

“No,” was all Adrien said before charging furiously into his archenemy. 

\---------------------------

Marinette watched with dawning horror as Chat Noir began to lose this fight. The akuma which Marinette had begun calling Dark Mirror had done more than make a loose copy of Chat’s outfit - she’d taken on his skills and fighting style as well. She had become a perfect duelist to take on Chat, expertly parrying blows and preventing him from making any significant gains. Still, long years of fighting alongside Ladybug had made their mark - he was wily and an inventive fighter now. It would be a long duel, but one that Chat Noir would have been able to win alone.

Unfortunately, Dark Mirror was not the only one he had to face. 

Hawkmoth bidded his time, waited until Chat was fully invested in repelling or attacking Dark Mirror. Only then would he strike, landing a single solid blow before ducking behind the protective barrier that was Dark Mirror. She watched this go on for minutes, the bruises slowly collecting on her battered kitty before Hawkmoth made a mistake.

It became clear he was growing impatient. While at first he almost seemed to enjoy beating down the feline hero, Chat Noir defiantly refused to be defeated no matter how many injuries he collected. As his grimace became more pronounced, he locked eyes with Marinette from across the room and a mirthless smile crept onto his face. 

He kicked up a piece of the wooden door and threw it towards Marinette. Only her own well-honed reflexes saved her from earning a cut on her good cheek. 

For a moment, Chat froze, eyes widening as he looked back at her. He paid for the loss of attention with Dark Mirror’s baton connecting with his gut. While this didn’t knock him down, he met Marinette’s eyes and nodded. There was a promise there, she could feel it. She just wished she knew what he was promising. The moment passed and Chat evaded Dark Mirror, making his way toward a boarded up window.

“No! Stop him - we cannot afford to waste more time!” 

Hawkmoth’s outburst proved pointless. Drawing upon some untapped source of energy, Chat burst through the brittle wood and disappeared on the other side. 

“What about her?” Dark Mirror asked, a very unsettling thing given that it was a female voice coming from a reflection of her kitty’s face. She glared at Marinette. Even bloodied and dizzy, Marinette refused to flinch and instead glared right back at her.

“Don’t bother with her! She’s worthless to us. We have to catch him _now_.” Hawkmoth stormed out in a huff. Dark Mirror watched her for a moment longer before following behind.

And just like that, Marinette was alone. Well, not quite alone. 

Tikki emerged from hiding, her big eyes full of sadness as they looked over Marinette. Though it took some effort, she took off the duct tape gag enough to allow Marinette to speak and freed her hands.

“Good job Tikki,” Marinette said, rubbing her wrists. “Now let’s go save Chat Noir. Spots on!”

\-------------------------------

Adrien was not having a good time. He was trapped in an alleyway once again, with two opponents approaching him slowly. He’d already tried extending his baton to lift himself out of danger, but Dark Mirror had knocked him back to the ground. 

That was about the limit of what even his body - superhuman as it was - could take. He struggled to get back up on his feet. It reminded him of another time, months ago, when he had been on the cusp of defeat by a common akuma and backed into an alley. Despite himself he smiled - Marinette wouldn’t be able to save him this time.

Hawkmoth approached him while Dark Mirror held back, watching the two of them very carefully. Hawkmoth knelt down to his level. “I gave you a chance. You refused and forced my hand. Goodbye, Chat Noir. Paris will be safer now that you are gone.” Hawkmoth raised his cane, but he was interrupted by a startled shout coming from behind. 

They both looked over to see Dark Mirror detransform in a flash of black and purple, leaving his father’s assistant Nathalie in her place. There wasn’t an opportunity to dwell on this revelation as Ladybug settled into a combat stance, a white butterfly fluttering away from her. 

“This ends here, Hawkmoth. Hand over your miraculous and surrender yourself peacefully.”

Before the supervillain could do anything except tremble in rage, Adrien delivered a swift kick to the back of his knees, making the older man collapse in a heap. Adrien then promptly fell over himself, expended. 

Things happened very quickly after that. 

First, Nathalie surprised everyone by jumping at Ladybug while shouting, “Run, sir! Get out of here!”

Hawkmoth hesitated only for a brief moment before he scrambled forward to dash past Ladybug, who was doing her best to shake off Nathalie without unduly hurting her. It didn’t take her long to push her off the beleaguered assistant. Her attention was split between Adrien and Hawkmoth, a rare moment of indecision from the usually bold and confident Ladybug.

“Go! I’ll be fine, just catch him!” Adrien shouted, shocking her into motion. She nodded at him and dashed after Hawkmoth. He turned his attention back to Nathalie. There was a tension silence between them as both recovered from being tossed around. He noticed she was wearing her usual attire, her normally prim and proper appearance tarnished by sweat and dirt. Her hands were tucked into the front of her suit, probably an attempt to fight the cold. Leaning on his staff, Adrien got to his feet to stand over Nathalie and asked her the question that was burning in his mind.

“Why, Nathalie? Why would you side with Hawkmoth?”

Slowly, painfully slowly, she looked up at him, eyes wide as if this was the first time she had ever seen him. She swallowed and simply replied:

“I did what I had to.” 

He saw her hand pull out of her suit clutching some green and purple piece of jewelry and before he could do anything, she had transformed and disappeared in a whirl of peacock feathers. Adrien swallowed heavily, too stunned to fully process what just happened. His head jerked as he heard a shout from a couple streets over and he began to run towards it. He could figure things out later. For now, there was still Hawkmoth to defeat. 

\----------------------------

For a decade long game of cat and mouse, Hawkmoth didn’t turn out to be that difficult of an enemy in close quarters. Maybe back when they were teenagers he would have been a challenge, but he had stayed safely hidden in the shadows for all that time while they had fought constantly against ever greater dangers. They had improved, had risen to the challenge, while he had languished.

Without his tricks, without threats, without backup and against the both of them, he folded without fanfare. 

Marinette stepped forward toward where she had tied Hawkmoth up with her yoyo, where he was still screaming about needing to be let go, how he needed to go to her. The Miraculous Cure had done its work, leaving her head free of what she was sure had been a developing concussion. A newly healed Chat Noir watched from the sidelines as their fight finally ended and she reclaimed the Butterfly miraculous. 

Hawkmoth vanished, replaced with Gabriel Agreste. 

The revelation hit hard. While it had been a long time since she had looked up to the man, it still hurt to see just how far he had fallen. But most of all, she was worried about Adrien-

With a jolt of sudden recollection, she whipped her head around to face Chat Noir. There was no look of triumph or even grim satisfaction there. Only heart stopping anguish. Police sirens sounded nearby and Chat Noir bolted. 

Marinette stood, rooted to the spot. She needed to tell the police about Gabriel, to ensure that he was taken care of. But after that? The Butterfly miraculous sat heavy in her hand. The mystical side of the miraculous had always eluded her, but even she could feel the corruption pulsing off of it. Master Fu would want to see it as soon as possible. But if Chat Noir was Adrien like she suspected… he needed someone, now more than ever. He didn’t have anyone else. As Officer Raincomprix approached, she grappled with her two choices:

Duty… or love?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger - the opportunity was too good to pass up! Stay tuned for tomorrow's update!
> 
> (Just because I couldn't fit it into this chapter and probably won't be explaining it later: Ladybug was able to so easily beat Dark mirror because she was designed as an akuma to face down one person at a time - specifically Chat Noir. Ladybug attacked before she had a chance to respond or adopt Ladybug's skills.)


	15. Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug searches for Chat Noir.

It took Marinette far too long for her liking to get away from the police. There were too many questions and not enough answers. Or time for the matter. The only brightside is she managed to escape just before the reporters arrived. She knew she’d have to to call a press meeting sometime to discuss what was going to happen next. But first, she had to get away.

There was only the slightest hesitation as she stood on a rooftop high above the city. With one glance in the direction of Master Fu’s shop and a whispered apology, she pulled out her yo-yo to access her map of the city - and hopefully, Chat’s tracker with it. She blinked in surprise at the flickering map and its lack of any markers. Unbidden, her eyes fell on the corrupted Butterfly miraculous she held in her hand. Closing her yo-yo, she started to search for Chat the old fashioned way.

Her first stop was the warehouse she had woken up in. While she didn’t much enjoy revisiting it, she was glad she did. It was clear he had been here already - the chair she had been stuck to was broken and her keen eye for detail noticed that the shattered wood of the door had been scattered across the space, as if kicked along. It was touching that even now, with all that he was feeling, he still had the presence of mind to make sure she was safe. But that didn’t change that he wasn’t here anymore, and there was no clues of where he had went. 

Chat Noir was hurting. He would go somewhere that made him feel safe or comfortable. After a moment’s thought she remembered the night they had spent on the town. It wasn’t much, but it was all she had to go on. 

As she went towards the Eiffel Tower, a favorite spot of theirs in the masks and the strongest candidate, Marinette let herself wonder. Chat Noir wanted to beat Hawkmoth just as much as she did - if not more so, since he’d taken it as a given that they would reveal their identities to each other if that happened. So, if Chat Noir wasn’t Adrien, why else would he have run away, practically in tears? Gabriel Agreste wasn’t close to anyone. Most of his family was distant relations. He had a reputation as being difficult to work with. He was cold and withdrawn. The only remaining options who would take the reveal of his crimes so hard would be Adrien or Nathalie. And the latter apparently knew about him all along.

Not for the first time tonight, she was curious about what happened to Nathalie. Chat hadn’t said anything during the battle, too occupied with fighting through the pain than talking or bantering. There had been a certain hardness to his eyes, as if he was angry with himself. But she was getting side tracked - they would deal with that latter, as a team. Right now, she just needed to find him. 

The Eiffel Tower was absent any superheroes. Same for the ice rink and the Italian restaurant and the host of other spots. A horrible thought crept into her head. All this time, she had expected him to reach out to her once he spotted her. But what if he was purposely hiding from her? How could she find Chat Noir if he didn’t want to be found? And with the media storm that was sure to follow, would he even want to return to being Adrien? 

Would she ever see her kitty again?

Taking a deep breath to hold back the tears, she banished the idea. There wasn’t anything she could do if that was the case, so she had to carry on as if it wasn’t. Even so, she could feel Tikki’s strength ebbing. Being taken in her pajamas, she didn’t have any cookies on her, so she’d need to stop home. But at soon as Tikki recharged, she would head back out. Nothing would stop her from finding Chat Noir.

Which made it all the more surprising when she landed in her apartment’s living room and saw him curled up on her couch. Even as she approached, he didn’t react to her presence. Once she got close she could hear his gentle sobbing, which broke her heart anew. 

She put a hand on his back, causing him to peek up at her. “Ladybug…?”

“Spots off.”

\-----------------------

The reveal wasn’t quite like the fantasies either of them had constructed over the years. Marinette had expected tears would be involved, but not like this. After detransforming in front of him, she sat down on the couch and pulled his head onto her lap. After a few minutes, he willed his transformation off and for the first time in their superhero careers, there were no secrets between them. 

The first hour was the hardest for the both of them. Adrien at his absolute lowest, all his remaining family taken from him. Marinette whispering assurances to Adrien, promising that she was there for him through all of this. They were still partners. They were still friends. And although she didn’t say it, the thought that they were something more than that hung in the air. 

Hoping that having something else to focus on would help, she started some movies and didn’t stop until the sobbing had subsided to sniffling sometime during the early hours of the morning. She had already consigned herself to calling into work today, ever since she woke up to being taped to a chair. While then it had been because she deserved a day off after that, now it was because she was worried about leaving Adrien alone.

Which might have been why she was leading him to her bedroom instead of his guest room. Despite how much they both could desperately use a shower, she simply couldn’t stay awake any longer and she knew he was barely holding onto consciousness. There was no reaction on his part as he climbed under the sheets after her, and both of them had fallen into a fitful sleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

In their slumber, Marinette rolled over onto his chest, a smile gracing her face as she unconsciously listened to his heartbeat. Adrien wrapped his arms around her and for just this night, his sorrow left him.

Tomorrow, they could worry about what was to come. For tonight, they took comfort in each other.


	16. Ghosts

The morning lights filtered in through the windows, forcing Marinette to accept that the day had begun. Still mostly asleep, she groped blindly toward the other half of the bed, searching for the familiar source of warmth that had helped her sleep so soundly last night. When she didn’t find it, she sat up on her elbows and blew aside an errant lock of hair with an irritated huff. Excluding herself, the bed was empty. 

Had it all been a dream? No - his overshirt and shoes were cast aside at the foot of the bed. He’d at least been here. And unless he intended to go walking around in his bare feet, then he was _still_ here. She sniffed the air hopefully, but couldn’t smell any delicious scents, much to her disappointment. Although maybe that was to be expected. She certainly wouldn’t have felt in the mood for cooking if that all had happened to her. 

She rolled over to plant her feet on the ground and forced herself out of bed. There was a lot to do in the newly Hawkmoth-less world. She hesitated as she looked down the hall at the guest room. Maybe he had gotten up in the middle of the night to sleep alone? Poking her head in, she saw the bed was still perfectly made and waiting for a guest. So he’d spent the night with her. Her heart fluttered before remembering why he’d had to stay at all.

The living room was as she remembered it last night - restored by the Ladybug Cure, but blankets left astrew from their impromptu movie marathon.

“Adrien?” She softly called his name, not wanting to alert the neighbors. “Are you there?”

“Marinette?” Tikki replied. She turned around to track its source and found her kwami sitting on top of an envelope in the kitchen, working her way through a cookie only slightly smaller than herself. “They left before I woke up. But they left a note!” She floated off of the envelope as Marinette walked over to pick it up. 

The message was simple and frustratingly vague: “I’ll be back tonight. Discovered something about Hawkmoth.”

She frowned at that. _Hawkmoth_. Not dad, or father, or even Gabriel. Hawkmoth. Before she could dwell on it further, her eyes widened and she frantically looked around. The Butterfly miraculous was missing!

Taking a deep breath, Marinette forced herself to calm down and think things through. “Tikki. Can kwami appear if there isn’t a wielder of their miraculous?”

Tikki considered this for a long moment. “Well, yes, but we don’t like to. It is super tiring because it means we have to manifest without a living anchor in this world.” She nibbled a little at her cookie, looking pensive. “Do you think that Nooroo spoke to Adrien?”

“Nooroo? That’s the name of the butterfly kwami?” At Tikki’s nod, Marinette continued. “I don’t see why else Adrien would take the butterfly miraculous. But I don’t understand what Nooroo could’ve told Adrien that would make him leave without saying goodbye.”

Putting a comforting paw on Marinette’s cheek, Tikki replied, “I’m sure he had a good reason. Chat Noir wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”

Marinette flashed a smile at Tikki’s concern. “I know. But thanks for saying it. It makes me feel a little better. Especially with what we have to do next.” Marinette ran her fingers through her hair and suddenly realized how dirty she felt. Even if the sweat and grim had been cleaned off by the Ladybug Cure, she’d feel better after a shower. “Finish up your cookie. We need to talk with the mayor and call a press meeting.”

And if Adrien wasn’t back after that was over… then she’d let herself start to worry. But for now, she put on a brave face and got cleaned up. Who knows? Maybe she would meet someone new today.

\--------------------------

Adrien entered his childhood home, just another shadow among many. The mansion’s defenses hadn’t been difficult to weave through. They were like an old friend to him, a hurdle he would have to constantly evade back during his teenage years. Only slightly more arduous to get around was the police sentry posted outside, but even then, the early morning ensured the guard wasn’t exactly at the top of his game. 

Maybe they didn’t have a warrant yet, or maybe their lingering fear of Hawkmoth kept them from entering. Either way, only his footfalls echoed in the spacious halls, halls that felt even emptier without Gabriel’s presence looming over everything like an omnipresent shadow. Finding himself in the foyer, he looked up at the giant painting Hawkmoth had commissioned shortly after the disappearance of Emilie Agreste. 

Disappearance. Adrien remembered Gabriel’s very careful choice of words, remembered how he had brushed it off at the time as him just being a strange person. Even years later, Adrien just thought that Gabriel hadn’t given up on finding his wife someday. That he was unable to move on. 

His claws hands clenched into a fist. He hadn’t been entirely wrong. Gabriel hadn’t been able to move on, but that was partially because he had known something that Adrien didn’t. Something he had kept hidden from Adrien for ten years. Something that Nooroo had told Adrien after forcing himself outside the tainted miraculous. Emilie Agreste, Adrien’s mother and the wife of the person who would become Hawkmoth was alive… at least for now. 

Adrien climbed the staircase and entered Gabriel’s study. Just as he remembered it, a painting of his mother hung on the wall at the back of the room. Years ago, he had discovered a safe containing the miraculous book behind it. But there was more to it than that. Pressing the hidden buttons that Nooroo had described, Adrien felt a brief rush of panic as he sunk through the floor and ended up inside an underground facility. 

All his questions faded away to background noise when he saw her, resting peacefully inside a sarcophagus of glass and metal. She didn’t look a day older than how he remembered her, wearing her favorite white suit with a vibrant rose attached to her lapel. Her expression was serene, as if she was sleeping. Or was _he_ sleeping and this was just another dream of his, the sort that he had stopped having a few years after she had vanished? 

Before he could find a way to pinch himself through the suit, a tiny but ragged voice sounded near his ear. “She doesn’t have long left.”

His head jerked to the side, where he saw Nooroo, looking at him with weary eyes. He hadn’t even considered that kwami could become sick, but those doubts were put aside when he took in how frail Nooroo looked, the way that his big kwami eyes had bags under them, the way he shivered in the chill of the underground. Nooroo was looking even worse than he had before, when he had woken Adrien up in the early hours of the morning. 

His words caught up to Adrien. “What do you mean? Isn’t she fine while she is in there?”

Nooroo shook his head sadly and Adrien heart dropped. “The machine is effective, but imperfect. Her sickness has advanced through the years. On the tenth anniversary of her internment, she will succumb to the infection.”

“Sickness? Infection?” He fought to keep his voice from breaking. It was hard to grasp that his mother was still alive, making it all the more painful that she was about to be ripped from him all over again. He was starting to get tired of all the tears.

“Gabriel and her used to run across the rooftops of Paris, using the miraculous not for evil but for simple pleasure.” Nooroo sighed. “But Duusu’s miraculous had been damaged during the Fall. It wasn’t safe to use. We tried to tell them but...” Nooroo looked over at the still form of Emilie. “...They didn’t listen.”

“So… Gabriel somehow built this,” Adrien gestured to the wires and tubes leading into the machine, “and put mom in it. Right?” Nooroo nodded. “Can’t I just get her out now, take her to Master Fu? There is still a week until the anniversary. That should be plenty of time to heal her, right?”

Nooroo watched him with sad eyes. “I’m so sorry, Adrien. She will last a week inside the machine, or maybe an hour or two outside of it. Even if she did live a week, there is nothing Master Fu can do. The infection is beyond mortal power to heal. There is only one thing that could possibly save her now.”

Adrien looked at his ring and frowned, deep in thought.

\-----------------------------------

As much as Marinette would love to have Chat Noir by her side right now, it was for the best that he didn’t see the crowd of reporters gathered in front of her. Most were wearing bright smiles and there was an excited energy arcing around the space. And why shouldn’t they be excited? Their long nightmare was finally at an end.

She clamped down on her nervousness, remembering the lessons Chat Noir had given her way back near the beginning of their superhero career. Deep breaths. Stay focused. She had always been curious about how he knew so much about making public appearances. Now she knew. 

“Citizens of Paris!” The voice of Ladybug cut through the chatter, silencing conversations immediately. “Hawkmoth, now known to be Gabriel Agreste, has been defeated for good. I am in possession of his miraculous and he is now in police custody.” She allowed them to cheer before she continued. “I will now be answering questions by the press, but keep in mind that some things must remain secret.”

“Was Gabriel Agreste working alone? Do you know if his son or any of his employees were involved?”

Marinette’s heart leapt to her throat before she got her feelings under control. It was a question she had been anticipating, but not so soon. Still, she rolled out the answer she and Tikki had prepared.

“I can only say for certain that Nathalie Sancoeur had some involvement in Hawkmoth’s plans, as evidenced by her willful assistance during last night’s battle. Adrien Agreste, meanwhile, we believe to be completely innocent of his father’s wrongdoings.”

“And where is Adrien Agreste?”

Showtime. “Since we believe he may be in danger, Adrien agreed to be hidden for his own protection. Chat Noir and I believe that this is the ideal solution for the time being. Rest assured that he is being looked after.” Hopefully that would buy time for everything to die down a little before Adrien returned to the public eye. The reporters jotted down her answer, not fully pleased with it, but at least accepting it.

The questions continued to come, but nothing made her react the way that the first one had. Some she had to turn down entirely - where the miraculous would go or how they intended to track down Nathalie, for instance.

All the while, worry gnawed at her in the back of her mind. 

\----------------------------

“Hey, Adrien,” she settled next to where he sat on the stairs in the foyer of his old home, in the shadow of a horribly dour painting of his father and him. His head was in his clawed hands as he stared at the ground. 

He seemed startled at the sound of his own name and looked over at her with red rimmed eyes and a wavering smile. “Hey, Mari. How’d you find me here?”

She dropped her transformation and wrapped an arm around his and wiped away his tears with the cuffs of her sleeves. “It wasn’t hard. Where else would you have gone? And with the Butterfly miraculous too.”

“I could’ve taken it to Master Fu,” he offered feebly.

“Then you would’ve taken me with you.” She cupped his cheek and smiled sadly. “Sorry, kitty. I don’t want you to be alone.”

He swallowed heavily. “I found out what Hawkmoth was trying to do.”

“Was it something to do with your mother?” It was an educated guess. What else would Gabriel Agreste, the fabulously successful and rich fashion star, want?

“Yeah…” He stared off into the distance again before looking around the foyer. “You know, this place used to be my whole world. I rarely ever got to leave when I wasn’t doing stuff for his business. I didn’t mind much at the time, though. I didn’t know anything different. Besides, mom was there, so even if it wasn’t lively, it was warm and welcoming.”

She just watched and held onto him. It was clearly something he needed to get off his chest.

“We had a funeral for her three years ago. There hadn’t been any sign of her for years, so we just gave up hope.” He scowled. “Not Gabriel though. Refused to go to the funeral, so I had to go alone, see family I’d never met before and try to explain why he hadn’t show up to his own wife’s funeral.”

There was a long silence between them before Marinette said, “I’m sorry about your parents, Adrien. Your mother sounds amazing. I’m wish I could’ve talked to her, thanked her for raising such a good son.”

Adrien turned to look at her with those wide Chat eyes and for a moment she was worried she said something wrong. Then, he smiled. It was small, but it was genuine and heartfelt. “Come with me, Mari. There's someone I want you to meet.”


	17. Rooftop Save

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette meets Emilie Agreste

Marinette’s mind was racing as she stood in front of a beautiful middle aged woman clearly visible through the glass of her… life support? Sarcophagus? Who knows. Her eyes lingered on the preserved rose attached to her lapel. Was Emilie Agreste just a pressed flower, preserved against the encroachment of time?

Emilie Agreste. Adrien rarely opened up about her during all the years she had known him. Rarely, she had caught sight of a few pictures, saw her briefly on the movie screen. But she had never met her, never heard her voice. To Marinette, she had just been a ghost that she had known only through Adrien’s fond words. 

And yet… Emilie Agreste had been alive all this time. Locked away and hidden beneath the Agreste manor, waiting for the moment Hawkmoth succeeded in his goal to bring her back. But now Hawkmoth had been defeated for good and from what Adrien was saying, she was running out of time. It broke her heart, but she was wary. Now that Adrien was aware of what his father was doing, would he try and continue Hawkmoth’s work? 

Adrien was fiddling with the controls to the machine. Despite his lack of understanding, he was moving dexterously and with a purpose. Occasionally he glanced up at his sleeping mother and his expression would become clouded - in regret or anticipation, she didn’t know. 

Several minute passes with only the sounds of his tinkering filling the silence before she decided to speak. “Adrien…?” He grunted. “What are you doing?”

He stopped what he was doing to turn back at her in confusion. “I’m waking her up,” he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

She considered not saying anything after that, but decided that getting to the point might be better. “You told me she can’t live for long outside of that thing, right?” He froze and stood there in silence for long heartbeats before going back to pushing buttons again. 

In a quiet voice he replied, “I know.”

“What are you going to do when she is awake? We can’t do anything for her.”

“Well, we can, but…” He gave out a long, rattling sigh. “...But helping her would kill someone else. Right?” At her nod, he continued. “So she’ll die. It’ll be like nothing has changed.” 

Marinette had been talking with Chat for long enough to know when he was trying to act detached. Despite how calmly he was talking, she could feel the roiling tension beneath the surface. She stepped behind him to wrap her arms around his waist, burying her face into his back. 

“I’m so sorry, kitty.” His hands squeezed hers and they stood there unmoving for a few minutes before he began to chuckle. She let go reluctantly to stand at his side, watching him carefully.

He saw her look and coughed awkwardly. “Sorry. It’s just… lately, with the anniversary and everything coming up… I’d been thinking about her more.” He flashed her a sad smile and added, “I had been wishing that she could have met you at least once.” His smile faded and his eyes became downcast again. “I guess I got my wish after all. But at what cost?”

“All we can do now is make the most of it.” She watched him findle with the controls some more. “Do you actually know how to work that?”

“Not exactly. Nooroo told me a little, but the only one who would know for sure is Hawkmoth and… I don’t think he’d approve of this. Besides, I think I’m almost…” There was a hissing sound and flaring lights as the lid covering Emilie started to come off. Utterly entranced with the spectacle, Adrien ended with a whisper, “...Done.”

For a long moment, nothing happened and she continued to lay motionless. Marinette was just about to reach out to Adrien when Emilie’s eyes fluttered. A hand went to her forehead and a pained expression crossed her face as she began to pull herself out. In an instant, Adrien was by her side and helping her out, keeping her steady as she got to her feet.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” came the bright voice, “I seem to be… a little…” Her vibrant green eyes,went from being unfocused to wide and alert as she stared at who was helping her. Her voice was barely above a whisper, panicked and reverent in equal measure, “...Adrien?”

There were tears in eyes that were so like her own as he replied, “It’s me, mom. Its been… so long.” Despite the tears running freely down both of their faces, he smiled. “There’s a lot we need to catch up on.”

\-------------------------

Emilie, Marinette was learning, is a remarkably adaptable woman. The news of her husband’s transgressions, her own impending death, and being held in stasis for ten years were all taken in stride. Adrien by way of Nooroo had estimated that they would have two hours and it had only taken maybe half an hour to get all of that out of the way. 

As they sipped coffee in the dining room, Marinette listened to them talk. It felt like she shouldn’t be here, like she was an intruder on this very personal moment. This was an emotional reunion between mother and son. What right did she have to be there? Maybe she should just-

“I don’t think you’ve introduced us yet, sweetheart.” Emilie turned her full attention on Marinette, resting her chin upon her steepled fingers. 

Grinning, Adrien wrapped an arm around Marinette and pulled her closer. “This is Marinette Dupain-Cheng! She is the kindest, bravest, and most talented person I’ve ever met.”

Which began a round of Adrien talking her up, listing all her accomplishments, big and small, while Marinette’s blush steadily threatened to take over her entire face. To her surprise, he even talked about the milestones that had happened while they had been out of touch. Which set to rest the idea that he had ever been avoiding her. Had they really just been idiots for all these years? Once she finally stopped staring dumbstruck at Adrien, she glanced over at Emilie and realized that she was looking right back at her. There was a pleased smile on her face and she gave a quick wink to Marinette before turning her attention back to Adrien’s rambling. 

After a few more minutes, Emilie cut in to say, “Sunshine, could you get us a refill from the kitchen, please?”

“Of course!” Adrien disappeared through the large double doors leading to the kitchen.

“He’s grown up to be such a kind young man. I was worried, leaving him with just Gabriel.” She smiled ruefully.

“I think we have you to thank for that, Mrs. Agreste.” 

“Heaven knows I tried, but…” She took Marinette’s hand. “...I don’t think he would have made it this far by himself. Whether you know it or not, he’s better because of you.” A few moments passed with that small contact before she pulled away and frowned at the door he disappeared through. “There isn’t anyone left. He’s alone now.”

The polite smile Marinette had been wearing evaporated. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “I know.”

“Can you… watch out for him… please?” Emilie put a hand to her temple, brows furrowed. 

“Are you alright?” She leapt from her seat when Emilie collapsed off of hers. “Adrien!”

While Marinette was crouched over her, Emilie croaked out, “Please. Promise me, you’ll watch out for him.”

The door flew open as Marinette replied, “He's in good hands. I promise.”

\----------------------------

It is strange, how quickly two hours can pass and yet the rest of a day can drag on forever. They’d startled the poor guard watching the Agreste manor half to death, but Adrien had wanted to be sure there was a proper burial this time. He hadn’t wanted his mother to languish in the manor any longer than she had already. They’d gone home and just found ways to avoid talking about what was really on their minds until the sun was down. Then they’d gone to bed, too drained to dream.

Marinette woke up at midnight thanks to a chill coming in from the partially open window. Even if she hadn’t felt his absence in the bed beside her, she would have know he wasn’t there. On the nightstand, the little kwami bed she’d made for the two of them was occupied solely by Tikki, who was peacefully dozing. After putting on her warmest robe, she open the window fully and climbed up the fire escape to the roof of her apartment.

Just as she suspected, he was sitting there, blonde hair gently tousled by the breeze. He was looking out over the city with a distant stare, his mind clearly somewhere else. She saw his cat ears twitch as she sat down beside him and curled up against him. A strong breeze made her shiver and Chat finally reacted, pulling her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. She nestled herself into the crook of his neck as he settled his chin on her head. 

“You should’ve stayed inside, Mari.”

“And leave my kitty out in the cold? Never.”

“This kitty is used to the cold.”

“Doesn’t mean that you need to stay out in it.”

There was a long silence following her words before he spoke again.

“I should probably feel bitter or sad or something right now, shouldn’t I?” She didn’t reply, sensing that he needed to talk this out himself. “But the truth is, I did all my mourning already. If anything, I feel… complete now. Like, I have closure, I know what happened to her. She didn’t abandon us. When she…” He swallowed heavily and started again. “When she passed, I was there for her.”

“But…?”

“Now I’m orphan. Sure, Gabriel is alive, but he might as well not be. Hawkmoth is going to jail for a long time - which is good!” He quickly added. “He deserves it for all the people he’s hurt. But I don’t really have any other family. Excluding mom’s…” he took another deep, steadying breath, “...first funeral, I haven’t really seen any of them since I was a kid.”

“Maybe… but that’s what it was like before, right? Gabriel wasn’t exactly father of the year before his reveal.”

He chuckled. “You got me there. But I also wasn’t in the best place then either. I don’t have many friends, and with Alya and Nino out of country so often, I’m alone most of the time.”

She pulled back enough to look him in the eye and cocked an eyebrow at him. “What about me?”

He rubbed the back of his neck and she was surprised to see a blush peeking out from underneath his mask. “That’s… I wanted to talk with you about that, actually.”

Fighting down the fluttering butterflies in her stomach, she replied, “...Alright. What is there to talk about?”

“I’m so sorry.” He hunched his shoulders and looked down at the ground. “I… I was too much of a coward to keep our friendship alive after school. I just… I thought…” His cat ears flattened on his head. “...I thought you wouldn’t want to see me again after that rejection.”

“Chat… Adrien… I understand. Confessing at graduation wasn’t my best decision, but I just… it suddenly hit me that it might be the last time I would ever get to see you. I wanted you to know how I felt. How I _still_ feel.”

“So… you forgive me?”

She laughed. “Only if you forgive me for rejecting you as Ladybug.”

“How can I refuse such a sweet deal?” He grinned at her in his usual cocky way, just like his old self again, before the nervousness crept back in. “So… where does that leave us then?”

“Where do you _want_ it to leave us?” She looked into his eyes, watching carefully as she waited for his answer. 

“I think,” he took her hand in his and gently rubbed his thumb across the back of it, “I want to stay with you.” His gaze flickered to hers. “If that’s alright with you?”

She leaned in towards his face slowly, hesitating at the last moment before he closed the remaining space between them. They shared a tender kiss in the moonlight. She whispered against his lips as they began to pull away, “Sounds perfect to me.”


	18. Balconies

Marinette wasn’t sure how much longer they would have stayed out that night had she not remembered something very important that she had nearly let slip out of her mind entirely.

Pulling back from Chat, she put a finger on his lips as her eyes widened. “The Butterfly miraculous! I was supposed to bring that the Master Fu the moment we took it from Hawkmoth.”

He became sheepish and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Y-yeah. We got caught up in me and my problems there for a while, didn’t we? Sorry.”

“If it means that you’re in better state of mind, then I can’t regret it.” She placed a kiss on his nose as she stood up.

His brow scrunched up in confusion as he watched her. “Wait, are we going there now? Can’t this wait until morning at least?”

“No, I’ve already put this off too long. Besides, I know that Master Fu won’t mind being woken up this late if it means getting ahold of the miraculous.”

He grabbed her hand when she got close to the fire escape. “Allow me, my lady.”

And just like that, he had pulled her close and jumped over the edge, deftly catching the railing nearest to their bedroom and swinging them inside. She snorted. He must be feeling better if he is back to his theatrics. 

“You know, I’m perfectly capable of walking down the stairs myself.”

“Probably,” he said with a grin. “But I like my way better.” He spared a glance for Tikki, still resting in her spot at the bedside. “Need a lift to Master Fu’s? Your ride seems to be sleeping.”

She knew it would probably be better to wake her up, but the last few days had been hard work on the poor kwami. Tikki deserved to have a little more relaxation, right? Besides, Marinette would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy sailing across Paris holding onto Chat Noir. It felt good to let go every once in awhile. With a shiver, she remembered she was still wearing pajamas and a robe.

“Let me change into something warmer and we can head over.”

\-----------------------------

“You did well to bring this to me, young ones,” Master Fu said while placing the recovered miraculous in a familiar black and red box. 

“Sorry it took so long - everything just happened so suddenly.” Marinette bowed her head and saw Chat Noir do the same out of the corner of her eyes.

“Understandable,” he replied as he cast a meaningful look to her feline partner and placed the box next to the Miracle Box.

“Wait, aren’t you going to return it to the rest of them? I’m sure Nooroo wants to see his friends again.” Chat rubbed his arm nervously. No wonder he was concerned for the sick kwami - hurting and alone wasn’t far off from his situation not too long ago. 

Wayzz zoomed in front of his face. “While nothing would please us more than to return him immediately, being exposed to such intense negative emotions for so long would require healing for any kwami. And Nooroo, being so sensitive to the subtleties of emotion, is in even greater need.” His frown gave way to a small smile. “But don’t worry! He is in good hands now, and his recovery can begin.”

Master Fu stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Which is more than I can say for Duusu and her miraculous. It is a shame that we don’t know what happened to it.”

“Actually… I think I know who has it,” Chat replied, hesitantly. Marinette blinked at him in shock. When had he found out about the Peacock miraculous? And why hadn’t he brought it up- okay, that part was obvious. A lot has happened in the last few days.

“Really? That’s excellent news!” Fu’s excitement gave way to concern. “Wait just a moment. Is it in use?”

Chat nodded. “I didn’t see her actually transform, but, I talked with Plagg and Nooroo a little and Nathalie definitely has it. Somehow, she used it to teleport away from me before I could stop her.”

While Master Fu stared into space, stroking his beard, Marinette settled into Ladybug mode, “How bad is it? Do we have to worry about another Hawkmoth?”

“While some mischief may be caused by the Peacock miraculous, it lacks the potential for secrecy that the Butterfly does. No, it is not the people of Paris that I fear for, but rather this Nathalie.”

Marinette exchanged a look with Chat Noir and saw the worry in his eyes. “What do you mean, Master?” 

“The Peacock was damaged during the Fall. It is much too unstable to be used for extended periods of time. Even worse, until I can repair it, the chosen will suffer from prolonged use.” He let out a deep sigh as he shuffled into the kitchen. “The good news is that there will not be a new Hawkmoth and one way or another, this situation will resolve itself soon. What is less fortunate is that I don’t know what the repercussions might be.”

“You mean for Nathalie? Will she at least be… alright?” Even after her betrayal, Adrien still cared. Marinette felt her heart go out to him. 

“I can’t say. Hopefully she will seek help before then. We simply have to be ready until then. With the powers the peacock can grant her - and her apparent knowledge of them - she will prove difficult to catch otherwise.” Master Fu shook his head sadly. “I just hope that no other damage occurs because of her recklessness.”

Slipping her hand in Chat’s, Marinette nodded and said, “I hope so too.”

\---------------------------------

Marinette sat on the balcony of her old room above the bakery, looking out over the familiar night time vista, practically a copy of her childhood memories. After a couple weeks of being in close quarters with each other, she decided that maybe it was best to give Adrien some space to himself. And what better way to do that than to pay another visit to her parents’ home? 

Still… even if it was just for the weekend, she couldn’t help but miss him. She rolled her eyes in irritation with herself. It was only a few days! He was probably doing just fine without her right now. The least she could do was go back down and spend some more time with her parents. She was about to do just that when something caught her eye.

Maybe it was just because she was thinking about him - she’d certainly been doing a lot of that these last couple nights she’d been sleeping alone. Because it surely couldn’t have been Chat Noir she saw across the street. Right?

Pulling out her phone, she sent a quick text to Chat Noir’s baton, asking if he was out. When he replied immediately, she huffed and pressed the call button without responding.

“Chat.”

“Um, hi, Marinette. Did you, uh, need something?”

“Don’t play coy. I _saw_ you.” Her voice softened as she crossed her arm over her chest. “You know my offer still stands, right? You can come over if you want.”

“I don’t know.” The call ended. She wasn’t about to let him off that easily, but just as she was about to redial, she heard his voice coming from behind her. “I suppose I can make some time for my favorite civilian, though.”

She turned around and he was perched on the railing like an actual cat. She crossed the distance between them. Putting her hands on his cheeks, she pulled him into a kiss and felt his tail wrap around her leg.

“Miss me?” He smiled smugly against her, but before she could provide a retort, he continued, “I missed you too.”

Shaking her head, she laughed. “It’s only been two days! Are we really that bad?”

“It isn’t _bad_ to be madly in love, you know.” Despite his bold proclamation, there was a faint blush on his cheeks.

“Such a flirt.”

“You like it,” he replied in a sing-song voice. 

“Maybe.” She poked his nose. A sudden idea occurred to her and she pulled him off the railing. “Come on!”

As he struggled to stay on his feet, he asked, “Where are we going?”

“To see my parents, of course. I’m sure they’d love to see one of the great heroes of Paris.” She whispered to him as they leapt down the trapdoor into her old room. “Just tone down the flirtiness, okay? We haven’t even told anyone we’re dating yet.”

He looked her up and down with a dubious look on his face. “It’s going to be hard with you looking like that.”

She glanced down at herself in confusion. He’d seen her in pajamas plenty of times. “Looking like what?”

“Looking so beautiful, as always.”

She punched his arm playfully with a roll of her eyes. She hoped that the light blush wouldn’t be too noticeable when they reached the floor her parents were on. Taking a deep breath, she led him into the living room, where they were watching television. Since she was here, they were staying up late - at least, late for bakers. 

“Mom, dad? We have a guest!”

“Guest? But I didn’t hear the door-” Her dad turned around and his eyes widened when he saw Chat Noir standing by the door. “Welcome. Welcome!” Neither Marinette nor Chat were ready when he picked up the feline hero in a hug. “You’ve done Paris a great service, son!” He placed him gently back on the ground. “Stay here for just a moment. I have a present for you!”

While Tom hurried out to the kitchen, her mother walked over to them. “It really is something, isn’t it? After so many years of worrying about supervillains and all it ends in an evening! You must be so happy.” Sabine smiled warmly at him. “We really appreciate everything you’ve done for Paris, though heaven knows I’m glad you won’t have to put yourself in danger like that any more.”

Marinette’s eyes widened and she felt like smacking herself in the forehead. Of course her parents would want to talk about Hawkmoth and his defeat. What else would you discuss with Chat Noir? It was true that he was doing much better, but it was still a recent pain. She glanced worriedly at Chat, who had plastered one of his fake model smiles onto his face as he listened to her mother.

Before Marinette could change the topic, her father returned with a platter laden with bags. No doubt they were filled with the remains of that day’s batch of pastries. 

“Here you go, son. You’re not much more than skin and bones - eat all you want!” The enthusiasm became dampened as he continued. “But, if you could take some to Adrien Agreste, we’d appreciate it.” Chat nearly choked on the croissant he had begun eating.

Sabine put a hand on her chest. “Oh dear! That poor sweetheart. I can’t believe his father could do something like that.” As they all sat down, she shook her head sadly. “There were so many akuma attacks that went at your school, Marinette. To think that he put his own son in danger like that…” She patted Chat Noir’s hand. “Thank you for taking care of him. Being constantly bombarded by questions and accusations would only make this worse for him, I’m sure.”

“I know he appreciates the support, but how are you so sure he doesn’t have anything to do with Hawkmoth?” His ears flattened against his head. “A lot of Paris seems to disagree with you.” 

Both Sabine and Tom chuckled. Sabine replied, “You haven’t spent much time with him, have you? He is far too sweet to have taken part in his father’s crimes. I’m sure of it.”

“Besides, Marinette is a good judge of character,” Tom said. “Since she fell in love with him, that’s proof enough for me.” Grinning, he added with a wink towards Marinette, “Somehow, I can’t see the same boy that decorated Marinette’s walls being an agent of evil.”

As Marinette paled, Chat’s ears twitched up, alert again. With a mischievous glance in her direction, Chat asked, “Marinette had a few posters of him, then?”

“More than a few! Practically covered all her walls, didn’t you, dear?” Tom nudged Marinette’s arm and she groaned.

“Daaaad!” She whined in betrayal. “That was years ago!”

“Say, Mr. Dupain, have any more stories about little Marinette’s crush you’d like to share?”

As her parents did their best to embarrass her, Marinette couldn’t bring herself to care very much. After all, this was the widest smile she’d seen out of Chat for weeks. Even so, she made a mental note to bribe Plagg later - she knew that his obsession with Ladybug had been just as great. 

But for now, she was content to watch him be happy.


	19. Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette receives a call late at night.

The following night, Marinette was back in her home. The cool late winter night was made warmer both by the blankets on her bed and Adrien sleeping soundly with his back to her on the opposite side. Curled up with the blankets, she was scrolling through her social media absently. Despite the comfort of the situation, she couldn’t sleep - there was just too much weighing on her mind. 

Hawkmoth was gone. Great! But there was still a rogue miraculous out there and Marinette didn’t like loose ends. And Hawkmoth was Gabriel Agreste, a fashion mogul and Adrien’s father. While they had largely moved past the father part - except that Adrien was still living with her in secret - the reveal that the French fashion industry’s brightest mind was a magical terrorist had sent everyone reeling. But the worst part of it?

Marinette felt that there was an opportunity there. 

Most fashion houses were suffering because of ties, no matter how tenuous, to Gabriel’s brand. Marinette’s place of employment had escaped the worst of it, but even they were feeling the pressure. But with the big players shaken up, that meant that the timing had never been better for newcomers to leave their mark. Between her low rank and her employer’s very faint connection to the Agreste brand, she would have a sparkling record. She had confidence in her work. She couldn’t ask for a better moment. What was she waiting for?

Beside her, Adrien rolled over in his sleep, now facing her. His blissful sleeping angel face was free of the constant worry he carried for most of the day.

Right. That’s why.

It felt wrong to profit off of something that had so thoroughly ruined Adrien’s life. So far, it had kept her from forming a proper fashion line even as commissions skyrocketed on her site. How long would she put it off before deciding what she was going to do? Hawkmoth was gone - her old excuses for not making major decisions weren’t valid anymore.

Her thoughts were brought to a screeching halt when her phone began ringing. In her shock she dropped it, letting it ring for much longer than it should have. After a lot of scrambling, she finally managed to answer it, noting bitterly that Adrien was already stirring.

“Hello?”

“Girl! I can’t believe I’m only finding out now - why didn’t you tell me Hawkmoth got defeated?!” Alya was practically screeching at her. Maybe that was unfair, but going from still quiet time to being yelled at through a phone was still an unpleasant transition.

“It’s just been a long couple weeks. Sorry!” 

“I can believe it. You sound exhausted, girl! Then again, you are nine hours ahead of us. Sorry.” Alya took a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s start at the beginning - how are you doing?”

They spent an hour catching up, most of which was spent on speaker phone for Adrien’s benefit. For his part, at some point he’d crept forward to rest his head on Marinette’s lap after she sat up during the conversation. She could almost feel him purring as her fingers ran through his silky soft hair. Both of them froze up when Nino suddenly chimed in:

“But have you heard from my bro, Adrien? He hasn’t been picking up his phone, like, at all!”

Had it really been that long since he’d turned off his phone? Adrien was looking up at Marinette, asking with his eyes if they were going to tell them. “W-well, Ladybug and Chat Noir, ah, said he was being taken care of, right?”

There was a long pause on the other end. Eventually, Alya asked, “Girl. What do you know?”

“N-nothing!”

“I know you, Mari! I can tell when you’re lying. C’mon, you can tell us! What do you know about Adrien?!”

Marinette glanced down at Adrien as he sat up. He cleared his throat and said, “Uh, hey guys. What’s up?”

After another freak out session, they were finally starting to calm down. Definitely a good thing since it was now nearing one in the morning.

“Just… bro, this whole thing sucks.” 

A faint smile tugged at Adrien’s lips. “It really does, bro. But I think I’ll make it through this. _We’ll_ make it through this.”

Another pause on the other end. “How do you mean that ‘we’, centerfold? Is there something else you two aren’t telling us?”

“Well…” Marinette trailed off. They still hadn’t told anyone about their relationship, but this was Alya and Nino! If anyone deserved to know, it was them. “...Yes?” She had to stop when their friends drowned her out with cheering and whistling. Once they stopped, she shook her head with a smile and continued. “We haven’t really gotten to go on any dates yet, obviously, but… Yeah.” Adrien took her hand in his. “We’re together.”

“Only took you two ten years. I look forward to your marriage in twenty more. Dibs on bridesmaid!” Alya snickered as Nino pretended to be upset. “Seriously though. Congrats! We’ll let you go so you can get some sleep. We’ll send you something, so keep an eye out. Bye!”

“Wait, what are you- Annnd she hung up.” She leaned her head back and sighed. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

\-------------------------

It didn’t take long for their gift to arrive - a small bouquet of flowers. Adrien had appreciated the gesture, but what he had liked more was the way Marinette’s entire face had lit up once she saw it. 

That had gotten the wheels turning in his head. He waited until she went to bed early, a consequence of an early morning shift, before escaping into the city at large as Chat Noir. There was a flower shop that he knew about that closed pretty late. A short stop at an ATM before he arrived and before he knew it he was already back home. 

“Claws in.” Plagg hovered near his shoulder as he looked at the large bouquet in his hand. As per his request, the it had come with a blank note in a heart shape. Pen in hand, he took a few moments to consider what he wanted to write and took care to put it in his most flowery text.

“Blegh. This is way too much mushy for me. And not in a good way!” Plagg took a bite of his aged cheese. Through a full mouth, he added, “I’m going to sleep. You’d better too, unless you want me to tell Pigtails more embarrassing little tidbits about your obsession.”

“I’m almost finished, geez.” Despite the weighty glare of the tiny kwami, he took his time with the message. “And… done!” He grabbed Plagg out of the air, despite his protests, and carried him to the bedroom. “Let’s get comfy next to our ladies, shall we?”

Through his grumbling, Adrien could almost hear a ‘sure.’ 

\-------------------------

The next morning, Adrien was still laying in bed feeling the aftermath of his late night prowling, when he heard Marinette open the door to the bedroom. He cracked open one eye to watch her enter.

“Hey, Adrien?” She was holding the vibrant bouquet in her hands, marveling at how pretty it looked. “Do you have any idea where this came from?”

“Looks like it has a note there.”

Turning it around, she pouted when she found nothing. “Where? I don’t see anything.”

“Must be inside the flowers.”

True enough, she found it and raised an eyebrow at him. After giving her a ‘go ahead’ gesture, she pulled out the note and read it out loud. 

“I never believed a pair of eyes could inspire poetry, until I looked into yours. I never knew a heart could be so full, until you snuck into mine. From your secret feline admirer."

“Ooo, a secret admirer. Should I be jealous?”

“Adrien.” She did her best to sound annoyed despite grinning ear to ear and slowly walking towards him. “This was inside our house. Which is locked. And is labeled ‘feline admirer.’”

He fake gasped. “A cat burglar?! The plot thickens!”

She giggled at his antics. “You’re insufferable.” 

As she leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips, banishing the last of the exhaustion from his system, he made a decision then and there to buy her even more flowers.


	20. Pranks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is stuck at home alone... well, mostly.

Adrien watched the snow slowly coat Paris in a layer of white as he stared out the window, his breath slowly fogging it until he turned away and stretched. There wasn’t really much else for him to do since he was still stuck in Marinette’s apartment. 

After a lifetime spent with a rigidly scheduled life, he would have thought that the freedom to play games and watch movies at his leisure would be wonderful, but… It just reminded him of the many days of his childhood free time he had spent locked away in his room. He wondered if he would be able to make it until the pressure on him had died down.

It had been a few hours since Marinette left for work and as much as he yearned to see her home, he didn’t bother watching the clock. They’d been slowly demanding that she work later and later hours, so who knows what time she’d be home? It pained him to see how the job was affecting her and he wasn’t even sure anymore why she didn’t leave it. The commissions were really coming in now, to the point where she’d even started teaching Adrien how to do basic things to help her out. It was surprising to him - despite having been raised around it, he didn’t know much of the mechanics of fashion design, only how to flaunt the end result.

No use dwelling on that now. Maybe he could find something to watch on the television. Before he got seated, he made a detour to the kitchen. Making sugar cookies had become almost second nature to him by now, after having made them so many times with Marinette. With a platter covered in them, he took a seat on the couch, only to groan when he realized he’d left his phone in the kitchen. 

When he came back to his seat, he reached for a sugar cookie only to note with shock that there was only half of them still remaining. A faint giggling reminded him that even if Marinette wasn’t here, that didn’t mean he was alone. And without a pressing need to use their miraculous, Tikki spent more often than not spent her time with Adrien now. Usually, the kwamis were good company. Maybe it was Plagg being a bad influence on Tikki. Or maybe Tikki wasn’t as innocent as Marinette liked to claim she was. 

Adrien rolled his eyes at their antics. Still searching for where they might be, reached for the remote, only for his fingers to collide with the table. The television flickered to life without any input on his part and turned to a cheese making documentary.

Just as Adrien groaned, he heard a tiny groan from somewhere above him. At least he wasn’t the only one displeased with their choice in entertainment. Well… there were worse ways to spend an afternoon, he supposed.

\---------------------------

“What was that all about?” Marinette found herself whispering at a tiny floating black cat as he nibbled at some camembert. Adrien had mentioned the kwami playing tricks on him, and while it sounded harmless enough, she couldn’t wrap her head around why. Tikki didn’t usually like pulling pranks, which meant that Plagg must have been unusually persuasive. But why?

“I’ve gotten to know the kid pretty well over the years. He needs something to take his mind off things.” 

Marinette rubbed her arm nervously. “Is Adrien… does he not like it here?”

“He likes the _you_ part of it. But… well…” He rose off the kitchen counter to float at eye level to Marinette. “Think of it like this - he traded one life of being shut away for another, except this time he doesn’t have anything to take his mind off of it. Being kinda annoyed is better for him than wallowing in ‘woe is me’, ya know?”

“I suppose…” Marinette yawned. “Anything else we can do about it?”

He shrugged. “I’ll take him out for more patrols, but honestly there isn’t much else to do besides wait it out.”

A plan was already forming in Marinette’s head. It wouldn’t take a lot of preparation either, maybe a stop for supplies on her way home from work. Yawning, Marinette decided that it would be good for the both of them to get some fresh air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda a filler chapter. Tomorrow should be more substantial!


	21. Cold Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Chat Noir have a date under the stars.

It was late when Adrien’s favorite part of the day finally happened. The door to their apartment opened and Marinette returned home. She had only barely managed to shut and lock it behind her when he reached her, picking her up and spinning her around.

Giggling, she asked, “Are you really going to do this every time I get back, you ridiculous boy?”

“As long as you’ll have me, yes.” He set her down gently, only now noticing that her hands were full. One hand was holding a paper bag with the Dupain-Cheng bakery design, while the other was clutching a thermos. “Remains of your dinner-to-go today?” Those had become increasingly common with her erratic schedule and the break-neck pace they'd been working her at.

“Not exactly, kitty.” She smiled up at him. “It’s for our date today.”

“Really?” His heart fluttered and he fought to keep himself from grinning like a dope. “An actual date? I don’t think we’ve had one yet.”

She rolled up on her toes to reach his lips. “Today is extra special then.” After a quick kiss, she moved past him to dig through their fridge. “I’ll bring some cheese for Plagg, just in case he needs to recharge. Although… You should probably dress a bit warmer than that.” She looked pointedly at his plain black t-shirt and loose pajamas. 

Chuckling, he replied, “If I’d known we were going on a date, I’d have gotten ready hours ago.”

“And then the surprise would’ve been ruined!” 

“Fair enough.” He winked at her as he headed towards their bedroom. “Just give me a minute and we can head out.”

\----------------------------------------

The view from Notre Dame was gorgeous, as always. The water of the Seine caught the lights of the city at night and reflected them back, distorted like the stars she so rarely got to see. The chill kept the bulk of people off the streets, leaving a reverent quiet that the two of them got to bask in. In the companionable silence, they ate the treaties from the bakery and passed the hot chocolate between them.

“So what happens next, bugaboo?” Chat whispered into the quiet, as if not to disturb it.

“Well,” she said, scooting closer to him and putting his arm around her shoulders, “I think I’d be content just staying here for a while longer.”

A smile played at his lips. “So would I, but that’s not exactly what I was talking about.”

“You mean now that…?”

“Hawkmoth is gone, yeah.” Chat rested his head on hers while he stroked her arm, but even without seeing his face, she could feel how he was staring deep into the distance.

“I don’t know. There’s the peacock, but Master Fu seems sure that won’t last long. After that…” she made a sweeping gesture across the city. “...we’re done. There won’t be much of a need for superheroes after that, right?”

“...Yeah. I suppose not.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t think I’m ready to let go just yet.”

Marinette thought back to Tikki, back at home wearing a tiny scarf that she’d made for her and watching one of half a dozen bake-off shows. “I’m not either. Maybe he’ll let us hold onto them a while longer. Just because there isn’t a supervillain doesn’t mean there isn’t a need for heroes, right?”

“Right!” Sighing, he gave her a kiss on the temple as he pulled her closer. “Thanks. I know it sounds selfish but… I can’t say goodbye to Plagg just yet. Grumpy cat that he is, he’s my best friend.”

Her reply was cut off by a sudden gust of wind that chilled her to her bones. Through her shivering she said, “S-so, I think I’ve d-decided on the next part of this date.”

“Oh?” He smiled as he scooped her up off her feet.

“Yes. Some movies at home, wrapped up in blankets, you and Tikki loudly commenting through a movie while me and Plagg try and shut you up.”

Laughing, he began carrying her home. “You make the best plans, my lady.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just fair warning - This weekend is going to be very busy and I won't be able to write, so my attention is going toward my Ladrien June story for now, so it can come out and update on time. I'll probably have an update for tomorrow, but just in case I don't, I'm letting you know now.
> 
> But don't worry! Rekindle will resume on Monday, possibly Tuesday at the latest. 
> 
> Thanks for understanding!


	22. Sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien takes care of Marinette when she suddenly comes down with a mysterious illness.

The door squeaked as Adrien opened it and a spear of light pierced the warm darkness of their bedroom. He winced at the noise, but Marinette remained still save for the rise and fall of her chest as she lay sprawled across the bed. The call had been made, even if he had to do a bad accent to appease his paranoid mind. Her work was now aware that Marinette was sick and couldn’t make it into work today. Someone else would have to do their dirty work for the day. 

He froze halfway towards her, realizing that she was mumbling in her sleep. Craning his head towards her, he strained to make out what she was saying. There was something about magic and sorcerers and monsters. Was she having a nightmare?

The bed sunk as Adrien sat on the edge. He put his hand against Marinette’s forehead, growing more concerned as he realized just how warm she was. Despite this, she smiled blearily at the contact, eyes fluttering open. 

“Hey, hot stuff.” She mumbled. “You come here a lot?” 

He couldn’t help but chuckle as he looked around their shared bedroom. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.” The quick smile died on his lips as he saw the sweat on her brow and how difficult it was for her to keep her eyes open. “How’re you feeling, Bug?”

“Not great. Tired. Hot,” she admitted with a cough. But then the bleary smile was back. “On the bright side, at least I have my boyfriend to nurse me back to health.” She weakly squeezed his hand and he idly ran his thumb over the back of her hand. 

“At least there’s that…” He carefully stood up, making sure not to disturb her as he rose from where he had been sitting on the side of the bed. “Are you feeling up for some soup?”

“Yay! Soup!” 

He shook his head with a smile and closed the door behind him. In the kitchen, the kwami were arguing on the countertop. 

“Are you _sure_ , Stinky Sock? You might have missed them if you saw a dustball that looked like a piece of cheese while you were in there.”

“Hey!” Plagg pointed his paw indignantly at Tikki, glaring. “That happened _once_ and it was an honest mistake!” He crossed his paws over his chest. “If you’re so sure I missed them, then go ahead and check for yourself.”

“Maybe I will!” Tikki huffed and phased through the wall.

“What was all that about?” Adrien asked when he was alone with his kwami. 

“Pigtails didn’t stock up on medicine. We’re out, so your girlfriend will have to tough it out this time.” Though Plagg said it matter-of-factly, his tail was flicking back and forth in irritation and he was frowning into space. 

Adrien sucked in a breath. Tikki emerged from the wall with a pout, watching Adrien. “It looks like cheese boy over there is right.” She sighed. “Do you think you two could go get some medicine? Maybe some comfort foods too while you’re at it. Marinette doesn’t get sick a lot, but it tends to linger when she does.”

He exchanged a look with Plagg, who rolled his eyes. “Sure,” he said with a nod. “I’ll head out after I’ve made the soup.”

“I’ll keep an eye on Marinette.” 

Adrien raised an eyebrow at that. “Are you going to be okay watching her by yourself?”

“I’ve done it before.” At his shocked look, she shrugged. “It’s been a while since she’s had another human on hand to take care of her. I pick up the slack when I can, but I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re in her life now.”

“Thanks, Tikki,” he smiled at the red kwami, gently petting her head with his finger. “That means a lot to me.”

She giggled. “Don’t worry about it.” She quickly turned serious again as she glanced worriedly toward the bedroom. “Just hurry back, okay? I don’t like the idea of leaving her alone when she’s like this.”

“I’ll be back before you know it.” 

The soup didn’t take much longer to finish and within the hour he was transformed and leaping across Paris as the hero Chat Noir. 

\------------------------------

It had become almost routine for him at this point. Pull out cash from an ATM, then pay for whatever their household needed as Chat Noir. Sure, it had flaws, mostly in how other people reacted to seeing a superhero walking through the aisles of a supermarket or drugstore, but he usually got around that by going to the stores at night.

That option sadly wasn’t available to him today. At least, it wasn’t if he wanted to be quick and get Marinette some medicinal help for her fever. He braced himself to interact with a lot of people and wasn’t disappointed in that regard. Thankfully, most people were content to just take pictures of him shopping. Probably because they were bemused at the weirdly domestic sight of him shopping for ice cream, cold packs, and ibuprofen. 

While he was being rung up at the checkout lane, the cashier raised an eyebrow. “Rough morning?”

“You could say that,” Adrien replied with a sigh.

“You know, I’m sure the hospital has plenty of this stuff if you’re that worried about her.” He scowled. “Although, it serves her right, if you ask me.”

Surprised, Adrien asked, “Who’s at the hospital?”

“What, you haven’t heard? It was all over the news this morning.” 

Adrien winced. After their date last night, his entire world consisted of their apartment until he left late this morning. What could have possibly happened in that small time frame? 

“Nathalie Sancoeur turned herself in at a hospital. Apparently, she got really sick, the docs don’t know what it is, and she’s under police supervision until she is fit enough to stand trial.”

It felt at once like a punch to the gut and as if a heavy load had been lifted off his shoulders. The feeling of betrayal had faded, but that scar was still fresh. But she was the last figure from his childhood still around - the last remnant of his family since Gabriel’s trial was just a formality before he’d get locked away for life. Still, the peacock miraculous was in grasp - assuming the police hadn’t taken it. 

His eyes widened with sudden realization and he nearly dropped his bags in shock. It couldn’t be a coincidence that Marinette got sick at the same time, right? Did something happen that got them both sick?

While paying for the groceries, Adrien asked, “Can you tell me which hospital she is at?”

\------------------------------

“...And that’s all I know so far.” Adrien glanced between his council of two kwami, who were sharing meaningful looks of their own with each other. “Well? Is my gut right, or is this just a coincidence?”

“Well,” Tikki began hesitantly, “If something had happened to the peacock miraculous, then it _could_ have rippled out and affected Marinette.”

“But why? Wouldn’t it only have affected Nathalie?”

“All the miraculous are connected, Adrien. They form a balance between one another - perhaps not as potent as the balance between me and Plagg, but still.”

He rubbed his eyes. He was struggling not to panic, but it was getting harder the deeper he got into things beyond his knowledge. “Okay… But why didn’t it affect me then?”

“Nooroo and Dusuu’s powers were centered around creating things - whether it be super powers or monsters. That tied them closer to me. And if something _did_ happen to further damage the Peacock miraculous, then that would just fed into Plagg’s powers of destruction.”

“Aren’t you lucky, kid.” Plagg sat on Adrien’s shoulder. “We should probably check in on old Nathalie. If nothing else, we need to fix the Peacock miraculous.”

“Will that make Marinette feel better?” Adrien glanced hopefully between the two.

Tikki gave him a reassuring smile. “Marinette will feel better either way. This is just a backwash of energy making her sick. She’ll be fine in a couple days, especially now that I know what the problem is.”

“Nathalie, on the other hand…” Plagg grimaced. “The faster we rescue Dusuu the better her odds are of recovering.”

Adrien looked longingly toward their bedroom door. Tikki seemed to pick up on this and reassured him, “Don’t worry, I can take care of her for a little while longer. Hurry back, but remember to drop off the Peacock miraculous with Master Fu!”

“Right,” Adrien nodded. “Plagg, claws out!”

\------------------------------

It was midafternoon by the time Chat Noir finally stood before Nathalie once again. The warnings that the kwami had giving him about misuse of the miraculous were confirmed as he saw how pale and weak she looked. Despite being only skin and bones, she was still handcuffed to the hospital bed. 

Adrien nodded to the pair of police officers. “Gentlemen. Can you give us a moment?”

One of them seemed about to protest, but he was elbowed by the other. “Of course, Chat Noir. We’ll be just outside if you need us.” 

Once he heard the door shut behind them, he turned his attention back to Nathalie. She hadn’t spoken since he entered, but her eyes had never left him. Was it anger or regret he saw there? He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. 

“Adrien.” There was no hint of a question or accusation in her voice. Just a statement of fact. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised.

He knew he should ask for the miraculous. It would be the smart thing to do. Even knowing that, he couldn’t help but repeat the question he had asked her during their last confrontation. “Why would you side with him?”

Her lips curled up in distaste. “He promised that he could bring back someone I cared about. It doesn’t matter now. None of this does.”

To his shame, he had no idea who she could be talking about. Despite how much she micromanaged his life, he knew next to nothing about hers. But she was right - it was too late for that now. 

“You can at least try to make things right.”

“No, I don’t think I can.” She reached into her pocket, and Adrien tensed up, expecting her to vanish once again. Instead, she pulled out her hand and Adrien reach out with his. She dropped a long sliver of a teal crystal in his palm. 

“What… what is this?”

“That,” she said, pointing towards the crystal, “is a fragment of the Peacock miraculous.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for the delay! I got hit with a bad case of writer's block and these big chapters were almost impossible to work through. I've slowly crawled my way out of it by doing the smaller prompts of Close to You, and now that I have a good amount of those backlogged, I'm back to Rekindle! I'm pretty sure I'll have the next chapter done for tomorrow. Even if I don't, I'm back in the swing of things so the wait won't be nearly as long for the next chapter.
> 
> Again, thank you for your patience! 💖💖💖


	23. Pillows and Blankets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette talk about the future within the security of a pillow fortress.

Marinette scooted closer to Adrien within the cozy space of their pillow fort as the last dying rays of the sun filtered into their apartment. The last few days had been rough, between Marinette’s recovery and Nathalie’s… lack of recovery, but now that Marinette was finally ambulatory again, she felt like things were settling down at long last. Even so, there was still a lot that needed to be done and said before they could move forward.

The movie played in front of them, but neither of them were really paying attention. There was a tension in the air as both of them struggled with how to start. As was often the case in their relationship, Marinette took the lead.

“Adrien…?” He shifted as she leaned away so she could see his face. “I’ve been thinking…” Her mouth was dry, and not just from the lingering sickness. “With all that’s happened, there’s… space, in the fashion industry now.” She took a quick breath and rushed forward, babbling in her worry. “And I know _why_ there’s space now, and I don’t want to come off like I’m trying to profit off your misery or anything, but this has been my dream since before we met so it’s something I really want to do. But if it really upsets you I can put it off for a while longer or maybe-”

She trailed off as Adrien’s fingers brushed past her cheek, resting on the back of her head while his other hand snaked around her waist, pulling her close in a crushing hug. He took in a few shuddering breaths as he held her and she felt tears begin to prick at her eyes as she listened to him fight back tears of his own.

Eventually, he let go and pulled back, looking sheepish. “S-sorry. It’s just… No one’s ever been willing to sacrifice that much for me.” He smiled down at her. “Of course I want you to pursue your dreams. I would love if something good came out of all this, and I can’t think of anyone more deserving of it than you.”

She giggled. “You say that as if I’ve already succeeded. It’s going to be a lot of work to start my own studio. And it might not work out.”

“Bugaboo, if there is anyone that _can_ pull it off, it’s you.” He held out his fist to her. “And I’ll be there every step of the way.”

Bypassing the intended fist bump, she pressed her lips to his and whispered against his skin with a sigh, “What did I do to deserve you?”

He laughed. “I’m pretty sure that’s my line.”

Adrien smiles again and that’s when she notices it. The smile is the familiar model smile that graces the magazines. The type of smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. She rests a hand on his cheek and frowns at him.

“Adrien, what’s wrong?” His smile falters and he looks away, but she doesn’t let him off that easily. Gently pulling his face back towards her, she adds, “You can talk to me, chaton. I’m here for you, remember?”

“It’s just…” He pursed his lips, clearly struggling with the right words. “What do _I_ do now? My life had been decided for me, but now not only has that gone up in smoke, everyone who had done the planning is effectively gone for good. Do I go back to modeling? Will anyone hire me now that they know I was Hawkmoth’s son? Was I just getting work because I was heir to a fashion empire?” He buried his face in his hands and sighed. “I just... feel lost.”

“I can’t answer any of that for you, but if nothing else, I can always use your experience with my brand. If you want to!” She added hastily. “If you want to do something else, I’m behind you all the way.” She leaned against him and took his hand in hers. “Whatever you do, I just want you to be happy.”

“Besides,” Plagg chirped loudly from his niche in the fortress, “You’re loaded with your own money, so you’ve got time before you have to make a decision. So kick back! Take a load off, figure out what it is you wanna do.”

“I guess I do,” Adrien looked thoughtfully into the distance before turning back to Marinette, a small but genuine smile on his face. “But until then, I’m going to do everything I can to help you build your fashion empire.”

“Thanks, kitty.” She gave him a kiss on the nose. “I guess this means I can finally quit my internship.”

Adrien pulled her close and was practically purring as he said, “Ahh, you know just what to say to make me feel better. The further away you get from that awful place, the better.” He sniffed indignantly. “They just don’t recognize real talent when they see it. I’ll give them six more months before they collapse.”

Struggling briefly in his arms, she settled for wriggling around and leaning her back against his chest. “Well, if you’re feeling better, how about getting back to this movie marathon?”

“As usual, you have the best ideas.”

It wasn’t long before he and Tikki were back into their running commentary, but Marinette couldn’t find it in her heart to be annoyed with him. Instead, she just enjoyed living in this peaceful moment with her little family.

\------------------------------------------

Wrapped in an old blanket as he worked late in the cold night, Wang Fu thumbed through an ancient text. Much knowledge had been lost in the Fall, but some had been returned to him through diligent work over the past ten years. Plundering Hawkmoth’s vault had brought even more writings back into the fold.

He spared a glance toward the reason for his frantic studies. A shard of the Peacock miraculous! In all his time as a Guardian, he’d never seen a miraculous become broken like this. It had been his hope that he would be able to avert this fate from occurring, but it was not to be. Once Nathalie had escaped with the Peacock, it was only a matter of time until the stress became too much. And now all that was left to do was pick up the pieces. Literally and figuratively, it seemed.

But this wasn’t the first time a miraculous had been ‘destroyed’. They could repair it, given they obtained enough pieces of it. Yet that had never been in doubt in his mind. It was the damage done in the meantime that worried him. Who knows what would happen when a relic as magically potent as a miraculous was broken? Perhaps the great masters would know. If they didn’t, then the Library of the Guardians would have had the answer. But neither of them had existed for over a hundred and forty years. All that the world had left now was an old student who hadn’t even finished his training when he became sole protector of the miraculous.

He was drawn out of his ruminating when he read a passage on the powers of the peacock. 

“Being close to the Ladybug, the Peacock shares in the power of creation, but in a weakened form. Unlike the Ladybug, which can perfectly create substance from nothing, the Peacock uses emotion as a raw component - similar to it’s sibling miraculous, the Butterfly. Yet while the Butterfly turns that energy inward to empower, the Peacock externalizes it. In this way, it gives flesh to will and emotion.”

He set the book back down and took the shard in his hand - a sliver of a much larger piece. 

Would his work ever be done?


	24. Nap Lap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir takes Marinette on another date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the shorter chapter! This is sort of a sweet little filler chapter as we set up the next part of the story.

In lonelier times, Adrien used to come up here at the start of a morning run across the rooftops of Paris. It was one of his favorite spots - a commanding view of the city while still tucked away enough that even to this day, he’d never been spotted there yet. A fact he was counting on, since today he’d brought a plus one. The wine they’d brought for their date remained in its cooler, and their sandwiches were untouched. Possibly because the main event hadn’t started. Or maybe because Marinette was laying in his lap, struggling to stay awake.

“You’re going to sleep right through it if you don’t sit up, you know.” Despite his teasing, neither of them moved. 

Rolling over to look up at him, Marinette shot a sleepy glare his way. It came off as more adorable than menacing, especially when she huffed to get a lock of hair out of her face.“You _morning people_ ,” she said the phrase as if it were a curse word. “With your… your… getting up _early_. It's unnatural!”

Chuckling, he replied, “Aw, don’t be a sourpuss, lovebug. Don’t you like our date?”

She defiantly rolled over so her face was turned away from him, but not before he caught a glimpse of her smiling despite herself. Shaking his head at her antics, he absently wrapped his tail around her leg and watched the horizon.

The city was still dark, but every moment the sky was growing brighter, painted in pinks and purples and blues. The lights of the city yielded before the rising sun, pouring across the city in a warm wave. He tore his eyes from the familiar spectacle and looked down at a much more beautiful sight. Marinette was staring in wonder at the blended colors. While she was distracted, he wrapped her hand in his gloved one. 

“First time?”

“You’d think I’d have seen it more, living in a bakery,” she looked up at him bashfully. “I guess I was never really meant for that lifestyle, though.” After spending the last hour using his lap as a pillow, she finally sat up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, Adrien. I guess mornings aren’t _that_ bad.”

“So does that mean we can-” She silenced him with one finger covering his lips. 

With a raised eyebrow, she stared him down. “Don’t push it, hot stuff.” 

He held his hands out in surrender. “Fair enough. How about we at least put that wine to good use?” He held up the bottle she’d brought home just yesterday. At her nod, he deftly pulled the cork out with his claws.

“Impressive.”

“Thanks. Took me ages to perfect that.” He poured out a glass for each of them. With one last look to the new sunrise, he raised his glass. “To fresh starts!”

Amused, she clinked her glass to his and echoed his toast. “To fresh starts.”

\--------------------------------------------

For all he liked to tease her about how late she stayed in, whenever Adrien didn’t have patrol he was out the moment the sun sank behind the horizon. Marinette ran her fingers through his silky golden hair and wondered if maybe her silly kitty was solar powered. 

They were laying on the couch, the television still running as it showed the late night news. Marinette was seated with her back to the arm of the couch as she cradled Adrien’s head in her lap. Not for the first time, she basked in the serene expression that he wore as he slept. She was glad that she was starting to see it returning in his waking hours. For a while, she was afraid that he would never get that inner peace again. But he had managed it, had gotten at least part of the way to somewhere better.

According to Plagg, Marinette was to thank for that. In these late nights, it would often just be him and Marinette still up. Most of the time, they were content to leave each other be, but sometimes… sometimes Plagg would get the urge to tell Marinette just how much she means to Adrien. How much she had changed his life for the better. For some reason, it always seemed so important to the kwami that she knew that. And she always told him the same thing - that it was only fair that she return the favor after everything Adrien had done for her. Having someone always in her corner, pushing her to be better while always having absolute faith in her… it was a powerful thing. Enough to rekindle her drive and passion for her art. 

Would she have been able to take this next big step if she didn’t know he was behind her every step of the way? She couldn’t say for sure. Either way, it was looking like both of them would be getting their fresh starts.

She happened to glance at the television as the mayor came on screen, a replay of a speech given earlier that day. According to the subtitles, he was throwing a party in honor of the two month anniversary of Hawkmoth’s defeat. A party where everyone was to wear superhero themed formal wear. Even though she knew she already had a full plate with her commissions, the party was two weeks from now. Plenty of time to get two sets of attire ready, right?

For a moment, she considered waking up Adrien to ask him what he thought about it, but then she saw his sleeping angel face and her resolve crumbled. Despite her legs, which had already fallen asleep, she couldn’t bring herself to disturb him. She could always ask him in the morning. Soon enough, she’d carry him into their bedroom, but for now, she indulged in the simple pleasure of watching him breath in the darkness, completely at peace.


	25. Puss in Boots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir takes Marinette to the Mayor's Party.

“A party, huh? About time we got some recognition.” Plagg swallowed the cheese wedge he had been working on whole, then floated towards the refrigerator.

“For once, I’m with Plagg on this,” Adrien said as he sat at the kitchen table. They hadn’t been awake for very long, but Marinette had already brought up Mayor Andre’s upcoming banquet at the city hall. “It’s nice to be rewarded for our good deeds, even if it is just an event in our honor.”

Marinette finished the eggs and toast she had made them for breakfast, sitting across from Adrien as they dug in. She gestured at him with a fork. “You make it sound like we’ve gone unappreciated all this time. We were barely a year into this when we got the first statue built for us, remember?” He conceded the point with a nod and they ate in silence for a few moments. “So… do you want to go?”

Adrien smirked. “Why, my lady, are you asking me to be your partner at the ball?”

“Not if you’re going to be weird about it,” she said with a teasing lilt to her voice. “Besides, it won’t be like a super fancy ball… right?” She’d done some sketches last night while waiting to become tired and none of them would work for a high class function. 

Unfortunately, Adrien shook his head. “No, Andre has really gone all out for bigger, fancier parties in the last few years. I guess his businesses are doing pretty good or something? At least he has more money to flaunt. Anyway, he tends to prefer more high class gatherings these days. My…” He cleared his throat. “Gabriel and I were always invited.”

“But… _everyone_ is invited to this one!” Even as she said that, her mind was thinking of new designs, the old ones effectively dead to her now. 

“I’m sure he said that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned away anyone not in a decent suit.” He took another bite and added without looking up. “It used to be that you had to have an Agreste wardrobe to enter, but something tells me that particular restriction isn’t going to be present this time around.”

Marinette absently stirred her coffee with a frown as she considered what Adrien had said. “So Gabriel and Andre were… friends then?”

To her surprise, he scoffed. “I don’t think he had friends, exactly. But they certainly had connections with each other.” He stared into his coffee, both hands wrapped around his cup as he set it on the table. “Maybe that’s why Andre is making this such a public event. Trying to distance himself from Gabriel as much as possible.”

“Maybe.” She smiled brightly, prying one of his hands off the cup and to hold it. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time. Assuming you still want to go?”

In an instant, the gloom that had started to surround him vanished. He returned her smile. “If you’re there, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“There’s my sweet kitty,” she whispered while gently running a hand along his cheek. More loudly, she asked, “Do you need me to design your outfit? I’ll be making mine, so it might be nice to be matching.”

He shook his head. “You’re amazing, but I don’t think there is enough time for you to make us both something. Besides, I think I’ve already got an idea.” He leaned back in his chair and looked towards the refrigerator. “Right, Plagg?”

Annoyed, the black kwami floated out of the appliance. “What are you on about, kid?”

“We can make modifications to our suits, right?” 

“Yeah, I guess…” Plagg replied grudgingly. 

“Then it shouldn’t be a problem for me to look like a musketeer?”

“Ughhh, that sounds like a lot of work.” Not for the first time, Marinette wondered how diligent, efficient Tikki had managed to put up with Plagg for this long. Or how Adrien had, for that matter. 

“There’s camembert in it for you.”

“What do you think I’m eating now?” Plagg waved a wedge of cheese about as large as he was in front of Adrien.

“About as much camembert as you’ll be getting for the next month if you _don’t_ help me.” 

With a dramatic gasp, Plagg replied, “You wouldn’t.”

“You’d be surprised how far I’d be willing to go for love.” 

As Plagg floated away, grumbling, Marinette asked, “Musketeer?”

“Yeah! That way I can be my lady’s dashing knight.” 

She put her dishes away and returned to kiss Adrien’s cheek. “Aw, kitty. You’ll always be my dashing knight, no matter what you’re wearing.” As he beamed under her compliment she grinned and added, “My own little puss in boots. You’ll be so cute!”

“...I think I’ll stick with dashing knight, if it’s all the same to you.” 

He stood up to take his own dishes to the sink, only to have Marinette hug him around the waist and obnoxiously yell into his chest, “PUSS. IN. BOOTS.”

Chuckling, he tried to shove her off, but failed to shift her. She assumed because he didn’t want to hurt her. “You're a ridiculous woman!”

Chin on his chest and looking up into his eyes, she murmured, “I am _your_ ridiculous woman.”

He returned the hug after setting down his plate. “And I’m grateful for you always.” 

“There’s my dashing knight.” Leaning forward on her toes, she caught his lips with hers. The day had officially begun.

\--------------------------

The two weeks passed uneventfully as the two of them made their preparations for the party. It had taken some negotiating and fine tuning, but he had managed to get the suit done in just the way he had been envisioning it. His wide brimmed hat had a light green feather tucked inside it, to match his full black musketeer uniform. The only part of his suit he’d been unable to alter were his ears, mask, and baton. At least Marinette hadn’t seemed to mind. 

Now it was the night of the party and Adrien found himself pacing nervously in their living room. It was the first time in months that he’d be out in public and expected to be social. While it would be as Chat Noir rather than Adrien, he was still worried. Even if he knew he had no reason to be afraid. For now, he stuffed those thoughts aside as he waited for Marinette to emerge in her dress. Despite his curiosity, he’d deliberately avoided watching Marinette work on her gown specifically to give this reveal all the more impact. And as she stepped out of their shared bedroom, he was glad that he did. 

She’d really outdone herself this time, the pinnacle of class with her strapless, sweetheart neckline dress. The bodice of her dress was black, but with red Swarovski Crystals scattered across it. As his eyes floated downward, he noted the many layered chiffon ball gown and saw her genius unfold. While the first layer was black, it was semi-transparent, showing off the red with black polka dots of the lower layers. It was subtle and refined, but gorgeous. His eyes snapped to hers as she giggled. He caught a glimpse of a familiar ruby necklace that had caught his attention during a patrol a few days ago, and a less familiar bejeweled ladybug clip in her hair. 

“See something you like, minou?” She gave him a smirk and she stopped in front of him, her red strappy pumps clicking against the wood floor.

“Only everything,” he said as he kissed her hand. He held out his arm for her. Once she had taken it, they made their way out of the apartment. “Are you ready to arrive at this party in style?”

“If by ‘style’ you mean, ‘the arms of a superhero,’ then yes. Though you might have to give me a couple minutes after we land to fix anything.” 

He chuckled as they stepped onto the streets and he scooped her into his arms and pulled out his baton. “As you wish, my lady.”

\---------------------------

To Marinette’s immense relief, they managed to get in without any trouble and were having a good time in the middle of their fifth song of the night. And despite her fears of being overdressed, they weren’t too out of place. Honestly, the only thing that set them apart from the crowd was-

“Gaudy stuff here tonight, isn’t it?” Chat whispered into her ear as they slow danced on the open floor, his hands on her hips and her arms around his neck. She had her head against his chest, quietly enjoying the fact that despite the modifications, his suit still smelled like leather and Adrien. “Not at all like what you made.”

“That’s… Well...” She bit her lip, trying to be tactful. But he was right, most of the outfits were a spectacle, sure, but they weren’t good quality. Already the floor was starting to get a fine layer of red and black dust from what was flaking off the worst outfits present. She shook her head, lips curling slightly in disgust at the poor craftsmanship. “I get the feeling some shops made a killing these last couple weeks.”

Chat snorted. “No wonder. The mayor kinda threw that theme out at the last minute, didn’t he? And not everyone has a master seamstress on hand to custom make dresses at the drop of a hat.”

“I’m not a master yet, but… thanks. And you’ve got a fair point. It all seems kinda last minute, doesn’t it?”

She was about to comment on a lack of Mayor Andre, but then the lights cut out except for a spotlight on the stage. The slow dance music was swapped out for something generic yet vaguely patriotic. Stepping into the light was the mayor himself. She didn’t feel like it had been that long since she had seen him in person last - as Ladybug, she often bumped shoulders with the man, whether she wanted to or not. Something about him always felt a little sleazy, even if he covered it up with his wealth and prestige. 

The man now on the stage, however, felt like someone else entirely. He seemed to have aged twenty years in the span of a couple months and despite his wide smile, she could see the panic in his eyes, and the fear that he was barely able to conceal under a layer of false confidence, proved by the sweat dripping down his face. 

Mayor Andre began his speech - something about rallying together and putting the past behind them. It quickly became clear that Marinette wasn’t alone in her observations. She picked up the words, ‘scandal’ and ‘corruption’ in the whispering around her. Maybe Adrien wasn’t too far off in his guess about why the festivities were being held in the first place. 

A slight murmur washed across the room and Marinette pulled away from Chat, suddenly on alert as her eyes snapped back to the stage. Her eyes widened as she saw the mayor clutch at his chest and fall to his knees. Before anyone could do anything, the doors to the outside burst open, letting in five men covered head to toe in jagged, black plate armor, brandishing two handed swords. The crowd panicked as four of them began charging towards them, leaving the fifth to approach the mayor. 

She glanced over at Chat Noir, who was watching her in turn. She nodded to him and a spark passed between them, a moment of perfect understanding. 

They were still heroes, and these people needed their help.


	26. Fencing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The banquet has been ruined by invaders, leaving Chat Noir to hold them back while everyone else gets to safety.

As Marinette rushed away, Adrien pulled out his baton in one swift motion and charged head first towards the armored invaders. Despite his lingering fear for Marinette's safety, he was the only one who could stop them right now and the best way to keep her safe was to make sure they didn’t take another step forward.

They raised their swords above their heads, but Adrien was still halfway across the room from them. Desperately, he leapt above the crowd and shouted, “Hey you metalheads!” Four visors turned as one to face him and he had to suppress a slight shudder at the darkness he saw inside them. “This is a black tie affair, not a black armor one!”

He landed between them and the crowd and struck a pose befitting his station as a fake musketeer. A few people behind him let out a cheer at his arrival. Immediately, the ringing of metal against metal replaced that tepid applause as he was pushed to his limit defending a four versus one fight. For once, he was glad that he’d kept up the fencing lessons even after leaving school, even after having to find a new fencing instructor. While he had mostly done it as a more entertaining way to keep in shape than the standard gym fare, he was certainly appreciating the reflexes it had given him now. 

Adrien tossed his hat into one of the knights, distracting him as the other three barrelled forward. He spun around them, practically dancing between their swords as he kept close. So close, in fact, that they could barely bring their large swords against him whereas he could trip them up with his extending and retracting baton. By doing this, he made sure that no more than two knights were actively fighting him at once, especially with how slowly they got up. Yet no matter how many times he knocked them down, they wouldn’t _stay_ down. Whoever they were, he had to admire their tenacity. 

“You guys might be tough, but I can do this all _knight_!” He grinned, but there was no reaction from his opponents. Some people have no taste.

As he got a handle on the flow of the fight, he risked a few glances around the room to see how the larger fight was going. With the knights distracted, he saw Marinette guiding people out of the building as quickly and safely as she could. For one brief, glorious moment, her vibrant blue eyes locked onto him and his heart skipped a beat. Then a sword got dangerously close to him and the last expression she saw on her face before he returned his attention to the fight was abject fear. 

His resolve redoubled. He wasn’t just living for himself anymore - he had to keep himself in one piece for her sake too. The thought of causing her pain was almost more hurtful than the idea of him getting injured was. 

He glanced at the mayor, only to have to glance over again in disbelief. Despite what he had expected, two knights had gingerly picked up the mayor and were carrying him deeper into the building. Adrien frowned - while he seemed safe enough for the time being, who knows what these knights wanted with him?

“I don’t know who you guys are, but I’m _feline_ up for a fight!” 

Emboldened by his own puns, he swung again, and felt his baton connect solidly with the head of one of them, sending the helmet flying… and revealing nothing but a faint blue shadow within it. To his horror, the knight simply picked the helmet back up and set it on its shoulders. Two more knights had joined the fight and now what was an even draw was becoming a losing battle. 

With one last, wild swing to buy himself some space, Adrien ducked out of the fight and dashed towards Marinette. He grinned as he scooped Marinette into his arms and held her close.

“Not quite how I was expecting to sweep you off your feet tonight, bugaboo, but I can’t complain.” They escaped the building and landed on a nearby roof. “Where to next?”

“We need to stop by the apartment first. Tikki is still at home and Paris is going to need Chat Noir and Ladybug tonight.”

“As you wish, m’lady.” As the wind was rushing through his hair, a thought occurred to him. “Wait. Why isn’t Tikki with you already?” She groaned and mumbled something he couldn’t hear. “What was that?”

“I _said_ I got too excited making the dress and forgot to add pockets.” Then she grumbled, “Of course the night I needed pockets I ended up wearing the one dress I make that _didn’t_ have them.”

Laughing, he tightened his hold on her and replied, “I guess my bad luck is starting to rub off on you.”

They found Tikki sitting on the couch with a platter of cookies in front of her. Their arrival was pretty sudden, which meant that Adrien got a good look at what was on the television before Tikki switched it to her usual baking shows. To Adrien’s surprise, it was a soap opera. The cheesy kind that he vaguely remembers his mother sometimes watching.

“Oh, uh, h-hey.” Tikki squeaked, floating up to them. “Did the party end early? You’ve only been gone a couple hours.”

“Change of plans, Tikki,” Marinette said as Adrien cancelled his transformation, returning him to his street clothes. “Some people in armor-”

Adrien shook his head, “Not people. Just… blue wisp things. That armor is either haunted or animated.”

Marinette pursed her lips. “Well, at least I won’t feel bad about beating them into a pulp, then.”

“Blue… wisps?” Tikki said. She glanced towards Plagg, who was scarfing down a wedge of cheese. He locked eyes with Tikki and nodded slightly. Turning back to them, Tikki spoke with authority. “You must visit Master Fu! I hope I’m wrong, but if I’m right then you’ll need to talk to Master Fu. He’ll be able to explain what’s happening.” Her confidence wavered and she wrung her tiny paws. “At least, I hope.”

“Well, my lady,” Adrien said as Plagg returned to him. “It’s been a nice vacation, but it looks like our break is over.”

She sighed dramatically. “It would be nice if Paris could _stay_ saved for once, you know?”

With a chuckle, Adrien replied, “Maybe, but then we’d be out of a job.”


	27. Protecting You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The miraculous duo seek out Master Fu's wisdom in handling this new threat.

The two of them were leaping across rooftops in silence as they made their way towards Master Fu’s shop. Marinette ran and jumped with only half a mind, her focus dedicated towards the feeling that had settled on her. It was hard to pin down and name, but the best she could do was call it unease.

“Something on your mind, lovebug?”

Her eyes met those of her faithful partner, Chat Noir. “I just…” She frowned in concentration as she struggled to put it into words. “I don’t feel surprised about all this happening. It’s almost like I was expecting it to happen. Do you know what I mean?”

Chat froze and after a moment slowly nodded. “Actually? Yeah, I do. Have you been having… dreams lately? Not normal dreams but… miraculous ones?”

She thought back to her first dream, months ago about ancient Greece. They had only gotten more frequent since then, to the point where she either dreamed of the past or she didn’t dream at all. “...I thought it was just me?”

“No, I’ve been getting them for a while now. I just figured I was getting more attuned to the miraculous or something.” He clenched his fist and glanced at his ring. “Do you think they mean anything?”

“Maybe. But…” Marinette thought back to her dreams of werewolves in Victorian London and demigod heroes in Greece. “...I don’t know if there was anything tying them together. Except magic, I guess.”

Chat Noir shrugged. “We can compare notes later. Right now, there are baddies to beat, and other mysteries to solve.”

“Come on, then. We’re almost there.” She twirled her yoyo. “Hopefully Master Fu can give us at least a few answers.”

\------------------------

“You were wise to come here,” the old master told them as he refilled everyone’s cup of tea, even the tiny kwami-sized cups. They had explained what they had seen, and Adrien couldn’t decide if it was relief or dread he felt when Master Fu wasn’t shocked at any of it. “It has to do with this.” 

Adrien's grip on his cup tightened when he saw what had been placed on the table. A very familiar, clearly magical teal shard glinted back up at him, and he was suddenly grateful for his current lack of super strength. His claws might have broken the fine china in his hand, much like how the Peacock Miraculous had been shattered beyond repair by the sheer arrogance of his family.

Marinette looked confused. “But I don’t understand. How can it be doing anything if it is broken?”

“That is the problem,” Master Fu said whilst stroking his beard. “A miraculous is not like a modern electronic. Just because it breaks, does not mean it ceases to function. All the power that the miraculous possesses is still out there. But while the miraculous is broken, that power pours into the world wildly.”

Adrien exchanged a look with Marinette. It sounded even worse than they thought. Looking back to Master Fu, Adrien asked, “So there’s no way to stop it until the Peacock miraculous is whole again?”

“Only once it has been repaired will the flow cease,” Master Fu confirmed. “But that is another issue entirely. You said that the Mayor Andre has been captured by knights?” They nodded. “Then that must mean there is a shard of the peacock nearby.”

“How can you be so sure?” Marinette took a sip of her tea.

“The Peacock miraculous was meant to use human emotion and will to turn raw magic into creatures. In better times, they would be fearsome protectors, summoned from emotions like love, joy, and commitment.” He sighed. “But these knights… they seem to be a result of the mayor’s paranoia and fear. I suspect they take this form because he sees himself as lord and master of Paris.”

“Adrien told me that he saw more knights starting to appear. What does that mean?” Marinette spared a glance toward him as her hand reached for his. 

“Unsurprising. With so much wild magic to work with, they will continue to multiply.”

“That hardly seems fair…” Adrien grumbled. “Aren’t our miraculous supposed to be the most powerful ones?”

“They are. The peacock is not meant to conjure more than one at a time. Each is taxing on the mind that summons it. They will continue to multiply until Mayor Andre cannot make any more, and then they will multiply further.”

“Do you mean…?”

“Yes. If this goes on long enough, the mayor will likely perish from his summoned guards.”

Adrien got to his feet and noticed that Marinette was already in motion. “Then we don’t have time to lose.” He bowed to the last guardian. “Thank you, Master. We will do our best to make things right.”

Master Fu frowned, causing Adrien to hesitate as Marinette left the room. He rose to stand before Adrien and put a comforting hand on his arm. “I do not hold you responsible for the sins of your father, Chat Noir. I chose you for a reason, and I have not come to regret this decision.”

Adrien nodded and left the room in a hurry, fighting down his relieved tears. There would be time for that later. For now, they had a mayor to save.

\--------------------------

They landed on a building opposite the mayor’s. Adrien was aware of Ladybug watching him patiently - the night wasn’t an obstacle for his keen senses, but Ladybug’s vision and hearing were only a notch above human. He scanned the building, expecting there to be eight or nine knights. Instead, he counted over twenty. 

All that in a matter of an hour? How much time did the mayor have left?

“That bad, huh?” Ladybug commented from beside him. Some of his disbelief had to be showing on his face.

“Yeah… I think there are twenty three, maybe twenty four? They look and sound the same, so it’s hard to be certain.”

“Any idea where he’s at?” 

“I saw them take him deeper into the building earlier, but I haven’t heard or seen him since we got back, if that’s what you mean.”

Now it was his turn to be patient as she narrowed her eyes at the roaming patrols of knights. Eventually, she turned back to him. “I’ve got a couple ideas, but we should try to find the mayor first. If we can get him away from the knights, maybe we can find something like an akumatized object that we can purify?”

“Sounds _spot_ on as usual, m’lady.” He drew his baton, but she put a hand on it.

“Let’s try to avoid a fight for now, okay? I know you’re still my tough puss in boots, but I don’t like our odds against this many.”

He put his baton back with a wink to her. “As you wish. I can be _purrfectly_ quiet.”

Dodging the patrols, they snuck into the building via a second story window. Upon landing, Ladybug’s eyes widened as she stared at an empty patch of corridor. She shook her head and blinked, which seemed to help. He was by her side in an instant, putting his arm around her.

“Are you alright?” He whispered into her ear, still listening for the march of the knights.

“Y...yes? I just… I could have sworn I saw… something.” Her eyes widened again and she glanced at his cat ears. “Did you hear anything just now? Like, voices?”

“...No?” If he wasn’t worried before, he was now. “Are you going to be okay, Mari? Maybe we need to talk to Master Fu again.”

She shook her head, stubborn determination sliding into place. “The mayor is in danger and we don’t know how long he has. I can handle whatever this is for now.” He opened his mouth to speak, but she glared him down. “No buts, kitty. We’ve been in worse messes before.”

He knew he had no choice but to trust her. As was usual for night time superheroics, Adrien took the lead. It was easy enough to avoid the patrols with how loud they were in their clanking suits of armor. Before long they stood before the entrance to the cellar. The closest wandering knights were far away. If they were quick, they might just be able to pull this off.

They burst down the door and Adrien had only a few seconds to take everything in. Four knights flanked the mayor, who was slumped in a chair and breathing heavily. His skin was pale and slick from sweat. He glanced up at them and reached out feebly. 

“Help… me! They won’t let me leave!”

The knights marched in front of Adrien and just as he was about to charge them, Ladybug’s eyes widened again as she whirled around in place, staring into empty space. A split second of indecision gripped him - should he try to fight the knights who he had a fifty fifty shot of beating without help? Or should he retreat with Ladybug and regroup?

The thought had barely been expressed as words in his head before he had scooped up Ladybug and rushed her out of the room. He noticed with growing concern that her eyes were unfocused and clouded. 

He bit his lower lip as he heard the clanging of metal armor sound all around him. He hoped that he could find somewhere safe to hide while Ladybug shook whatever was affecting her off, deliberately ignoring the possibility that she might not be able to.


	28. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette tries to shake off the lingering after effects as the both of them search for the peacock miraculous shard.

Marinette wasn’t sure where she was anymore. 

Each time she moved her head was another location and different people filling it. Some were familiar - the foggy streets of London over a century ago, Greece in the time of gods and heroes. Others… were less so, but her gut gave her the names her head couldn’t. China. Peru. Egypt. And, of course, France. There was a pattern - someone, usually a woman, in red. And someone, usually a man, in black. 

As the visions came and went, blurring together, she reached out for something, _anything_ that could anchor her. She felt strong arms underneath her, hooked below her knees and back. With something she could feel in her heart as _real_ and _now_ she pulled herself out of the swirling maelstrom and back into the present. 

The arms belonged to Chat Noir, _her_ Chat Noir. By the way she was being jostled, he was carrying her. The distant sound of clanging metal gave her another reference point. They were being chased, but her Chat Noir is not easily caught and they were escaping. But why were they running away in the first place?

Her eyes flew open as everything came rushing back.

He glanced down at her. “How’re you feeling, Bug? Can you stand?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” she lied. She glanced around her, confirming her fears. The past was still imposed over the present, although it was now only faintly there. It was like a mural that had been poorly painted over another one, and seeing both at the same time was starting to give her a headache. The whispers at the edges of her mind only worsened things. She looked back at Chat Noir, who hadn’t set her down yet. “Okay, no, I’m not fine. But I think I know how to make things better. Can you please put me down?”

His cat ears twitched as he listened for any enemies and gently let her out of his arms once he was satisfied with whatever he heard. “So what’s the plan now?”

In way of reply, she said, “Spots off.”

“What are you doing?!” He whispered angrily. “We are still in a building flooded with bad guys, in case you forgot!”

“Sorry, kitty. I just couldn’t keep going like that. I guess you’ll just have to protect me.” She gave him a wink, but he crossed his arms, pouting at her as his tail flicked back and forth irritatedly.   
She looked around the side hallway that they were hiding in. Everything was as it should be and the voices were gone.

“That’s much better. Now let’s-” She blinked as she turned around. It was unlike anything she had felt before. Almost like a magnetic force leading her a certain way. “That’s weird…” 

A tiny sneeze drew her attention back to Tikki, sniffling and tired looking. It wasn’t the worst condition she’d seen her kwami in, but it was far from the best. Her concern must have shown since she waved a paw at Marinette. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine after some cookies, ready whenever you need to transform. But you feel that, right?”

“That… pull? Yeah, I do.”

“Well I don’t,” Chat grumbled, arms still crossed.

She put her hands on his face and pulled his attention to her. “I know you’re just upset because you’re scared. But I’m completely fine. We’re going to win, just like we always do. Okay?”

It took him a moment, but he nodded and relaxed. “Okay.” He let out a breath. “So. What about a pull? Is this about the peacock miraculous?”

Tikki nodded. “Yes. Since it is broken, it’s energy is flooding out uncontrollably. Since it is charged with negative emotions, it is easier to sense. Between the two, Marinette is feeling herself drawn to a shard that is close by!”

“Why didn’t she feel it before?” Chat glanced between the two of them.

“I think I did, but there was a lot of background noise with those visions to deal with.”

“And when you didn’t have your miraculous active,” Tikki added, “those visions faded. Leaving the pull by itself.”

“So now what? We follow the pull and find the shard?” 

“Sounds about right, kitty.”

Chat bowed to her with his usual dramatic flair. “Then lead on, my lady.”

Marinette almost wished she had taken time to change into something more comfortable before heading out as Ladybug. But there was no use whining about it now, she’d just have to deal with being in her ballgown as they made their way through this building. Her fears of having to run in a dress and heels proved to be unfounded when she realized that the knights weren’t coming to this part of the building. Maybe they were solely focused on protecting Andre, even above guarding the source of their existence?

The door to the room where the pull was strongest was locked and remained locked for the remainder of the time it existed. Which was approximately as long as it took Chat to call out ‘cataclysm’. They stepped through the ashes of the door and found themselves in the mayor’s luxurious personal office. 

“Any idea where to go from here, bugaboo?”

Marinette focused, but got nothing. “No, the entire area is just too saturated with the energy. We’ll have to look by hand.”

\-------------------------

Adrien watched Marinette as she scanned the room. He was still worried about these changes that were happening, but she seemed fine now. Even so, he knew her well enough that she would do her best to power through any discomfort she had before asking for help. It was up to him to look out for her and be there even when she didn’t say anything. 

Marinette and Tikki walked over to the bookshelf and Adrien nodded to himself. It was probably a good move, very calculated - there were plenty of books, fittingly enough, on the shelf and many other things besides that the shard could be hiding in. If a shard had somehow found its way into the office by accident, then no doubt that would be the most logical place to search. 

Something had been bothering Adrien, however - why the mayor’s office? Sure, people came and went there all the time, but it was often well guarded and the people that came here were generally close friends of the mayor. A shard wouldn’t end up here by accident. And Adrien knew Andre - knew him outside the mask, the same mask that puts the mayor on his best behavior. The question he had to ask himself was - if Mayor Andre, friend of Gabriel Agreste and known sleazy politician, were to hear about a magical artifact being broken, would he secretly obtain a part of it for his own vanity?

While Marinette searched the bookshelves, Adrien went straight for the mayor’s desk. Sitting down in the big, comfy armchair, he rattled the drawer. Locked. He applied some superhero strength. Not locked anymore. 

The expensive pens, official papers, and a number of random curios didn’t seem to back up his hunch. Just before he stood up, however, he noticed something with his keen vision - a hidden panel. Curious, he deftly felt around with his claws and found the edges. After he pulled it up, he found a beat up leather-bound notebook, stuffed with papers and pictures. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to find when he opened that notebook, but it stunned him anyway.

Compromising pictures of famous Parisians and more than a few reporters. Notes on the back, usually time, place, names of people involved. Each with a euro amount stamped on the back. There were notes about reporters paid off or blackmailed after getting too close. There were ledgers detailing monthly payments from wealthy benefactors - including, until recently, Adrien’s own father. Each of the entries had a note attached to it - some project the mayor had backed, something said in speeches, tasks to perform. With deepening dread, Adrien followed the lines to Gabriel Agreste’s entry: ‘Wear Agreste brand clothing for all functions. Blacklist upcoming new designers.’

Somehow Adrien wasn’t surprised. His father’s spark, his passion for design, had been guttering out for a while now. Maybe it was a result of running out of time and knowing it. His latest lines didn’t have the same boldness or visionary qualities that had first made his name. Adrien assumed that he just didn’t understand fashion since the business side of things was doing just fine, but this… this made things fall into place. Between Gabriel’s hand in other design houses and his suppression of potential competitors, no wonder-

Adrien’s head snapped towards Marinette as she let out a startled squeak. She’d accidentally dropped one book which had somehow caused a chain reaction that saw an entire shelf dumped onto the floor. As she groaned in irritation, he smiled faintly. 

Then horrible dread sunk in and he began furiously searching through the pages. Marinette had often complained about how the internship was the best she managed to get after graduating from university. How they never let her do any actual design work. He remembered the unspoken pain she felt at not being trusted with doing her life’s passion. But how much of that was the studio simply being ignorant of her abilities? 

It was clear that Mayor Andre was a meticulous note taker, at least where it came to his money. If that’s true then maybe…

Adrien found it. A list of designers blacklisted. Among them? 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.


	29. Werecat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A confrontation a long time in the making.

Marinette watched as Adrien paced in front of her. His hands were clenching and unclenching at his sides, she could see the tension in his jawline and shoulders. She knew that if he was transformed right now, his tail would be flicking back and forth. She reflected that, given the circumstances, his anger was entirely relatable. Even with a cursory glance through the papers, he’d found enough to get him riled up and that was before they’d taken them home and started really digging into them.

It had been a real shock to see what Adrien had uncovered at the mayor’s office. The rest of the night had ended up feeling like a formality - even the discovery of a shard of the peacock miraculous, blackened and pulsing with energy and locked in the mayor’s desk, had only ended up being met with almost business-like indifference. After a certain point, it was hard to muster the energy to get more upset. 

Thankfully, the same procedure that worked to cleanse akumas was easily adapted to purify corrupted miraculous. She noticed that the miraculous cure didn’t seem as effective as usual, but considering that all the damage would be primarily in the mayor’s building, they hadn’t been too broken up about it. For both the mayor’s sake and their own, they hadn’t gone back to check on him. Watching Adrien in this state, she couldn’t regret that decision.

She reached out and grabbed the cuff of his shirt, stopped him in his tracks. “Adrien, take a seat. You’re going to wear a hole into the floor.”

“I _can’t_!” He looked at her with such helpless emotion that was breaking her heart all over again. “Mari, my father _blacklisted you_ from your dream job! And that’s not even touching on all the other horrible things he did to our friends, either directly or by supporting that terrible person!” He crumbled to his knees and rested his head on her legs. “I’m so so so _so_ sorry. I had no idea…”

She lifted his head up to look him in the eye. “Adrien. Listen to me - don’t you dare for _one minute_ think any of this is your fault. It is all on Gabriel and Andre. Not you. Okay?”

“Okay…” With a hesitant nod, he got to his feet. “How can you be so calm about this? You got hit hard by this.”

“Honestly? I’m pissed. But I choose to take it as a compliment. Gabriel Agreste, head of his own fashion empire, thought that I was good enough to ruin him.” She leaned back and crossed her arms at Adrien. “And you know what the best revenge will be? Getting bigger than he ever did on skill alone.” She patted the seat next to her and gestured towards the papers. “Now come on and help me sort through this.”

Adrien seemed to be mulling something over. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I need to go for a run. I’m too angry to think right now.”

“Woah, kid, you sure about that?” Plagg piped up for the first time since they’d gotten home. It hadn’t been the lazy quiet she was used to from Plagg, but a very careful silence. As if he was waiting to see how things would play out.

“I don’t know if it is wise to-” Tikki stopped when she saw Adrien shake his head. 

“I can’t help anyone right now. I just… I need some air.” 

Marinette stood up and cupped his face. “Then go and get it out of your system. I’ll be right here waiting for you.” She rolled forward to kiss his cheek. “Don’t get lost out there, okay?”

He watched her with a tender expression, unable to do anything but nod. “Claws out.”

Once he was gone, Marinette collapsed into the couch. Tikki landed behind her.

“Are you sure that was a good idea?”

“Adrien is feeling a lot right now. It’s like Hawkmoth’s defeat all over again. I’m here for him, but this is something that he needs to come to grips with before I can do anything to help him. Once he comes back we can talk things out.” 

Tikki considered this. “And what about you, Marinette?”

Marinette sighed. “I’ll be happy when I have my kitty back. Until then,” she leaned forward and started working through another set of papers.

\---------------------------------------------

Chat Noir’s mind was empty of thoughts as he let himself fully sink into the mechanics of running, leaping, and swinging. He had no destination in mind, but ran like a man possessed. As if he’d be able to burn out his anger and frustration with physical exhaustion. For a while, it worked and he was able to outrun his emotions - he became lost in the moment. 

Running, however, is only a temporary solution. It took a while, but even his superhuman endurance began to waver and everything hit him all at once. He slowed down, legs becoming tired from more than just physical weariness. His knee hit the metal roof of the building he was standing on and only there and then, alone, did he allow himself to shed tears. 

There were plenty of emotions vying for his attention. The most obvious was anger - he was beyond pissed at Mayor Andre, and more especially his father. He had known that Gabriel was not a savory character, even when his mom was alive. It had only worsened over the years, but even at his lowest, Adrien hadn’t expected his father to be capable of such… corruption and vileness. Which lead to frustration. Even in prison, Gabriel was ruining his life and hurting his friends. Shame was hot on its heels - despite Marinette’s reassurances, he knew that if there was anyone that could have noticed this earlier, it would have been him. The money used to torment his loved ones was the same money he’d helped Gabriel make through years of modeling. 

Belatedly, Adrien realized where he was standing. The same warehouse that Hawkmoth - his father - had held Marinette in to get at Chat Noir. Like the true coward he was.

His brushed his tears aside and stood tall. There was one stop he needed to make before he went home to help Marinette deliver justice. Gabriel Agreste needed to understand the enormity of his crimes. And who better to do it than him?

So single-minded was Adrien that he failed to notice the white fur taking shape below him and a throaty growl that echoed in the empty space...

\------------------------------------

Gabriel Agreste stared at the wall of his small prison cell. He’d been put into maximum security, solitary confinement as he awaited his no doubt highly publicized trial. There had been no visitors to break up the monotony of his daily routine. Nathalie was gone, likely a victim of the same miraculous that had stolen so much from him already. Adrien hadn’t been seen in months, abducted by his hated enemies. And clearly, all of his business associates were doing their best to divorce themselves from any relationship they had with him. He did not even have Nooroo any more, his one constant companion for the past what? Twenty, thirty years? 

Worst of all, he knew that his wife was gone. The machine could not have sustained her for much longer, least of all without his frequent maintenance and care. No, now Gabriel was entirely alone in the world. 

...Or at least he was until he noticed the figure in black standing on the other side of his cage, just outside the reach of his pitiful overhead light.

Of course, even in the weak light he would recognize that figure. Even if he hadn’t been spending the last ten years trying to pry jewelry off his body, living or dead, there weren’t many people in Paris who wore cat ears and a leather tail. At least, none that he would allow within twenty meters of him.

His face twisted into a sneer. “Chat Noir. Finally come to gloat at how you defeated the mighty Hawkmoth? How you tore a family apart because of your desperate need to play hero?” He watched Chat Noir flex his claws as his glowing emerald eyes stared back at Gabriel. Despite himself, Gabriel shivered - there was a coldness in that look that he’d never seen in the hero before, no matter what akuma’s eyes he had been looking through.

Instead of a response, Chat Noir said, “Claws in.”

After blinking away the spots from his eyes due to the green light show, he eagerly looked one of his nemeses in the face for the first time. A knot of some unfamiliar emotion knotted in his gut. Despite the suit vanishing, none. "...Son?"

 

"Hawkmoth."

Gabriel frowned, the much more familiar sense of parental disappointment returning to him. "Still no respect for your father, I see."

"There's no one here by that title. No one here who deserves respect. Let me tell you about some people I DO respect though." Adrien pulls pictures out of his jacket and throws them one by one at Gabriel’s feet. 

The first picture was a happy couple dressed in wedding finery that Gabriel could barely remember as one of Adrien’s circle of nobody friends. "This is Alya and Nino. You remember them, right? Well this is their wedding rehearsal dinner. In Venice. Why in Venice, do you ask? Because, as I just learned, they were threatened by Andre Bourgeois to the point that they had to leave this city. They now travel where Alya can report the truth without being blackmailed."

Another picture hit the floor. "This is my former fencing instructor. I'm sure you don't remember him, because you didn't care about how I lived my life as long as I was busy and quiet and cut off from the world. He ran against the mayor several times trying to bring real change and each time he was met with a smear campaign that ruined his reputation and his business. He moved, and last I heard he has a very nice fencing studio in Marseille. He hasn't been back to Paris since."

"Adrien-"

The last picture was tossed directly at his face and Gabriel caught it easily with one hand. He almost wished he hadn’t when he saw his son, smiling wider than he had in years, his arm around a young woman that he definitely recognized. 

"And THIS.” His son’s face was a mask of anger. “This is Marienette Dupain-Cheng. The love of my life. And she's still here. DESPITE the horrible competition she endured trying to break into the fashion world. DESPITE the critics who will tear apart anything innovative for ratings. DESPITE the blacklist I found in Mayor Bourgeois's office that had her name on it. The list you gave him."

Long moments passed between them, a silence thick with tension. 

“You’ve got nothing to say for yourself.” It wasn’t a question.

“Everything I did was for us, for our family-” Gabriel was cut off by Adrien laughing, a biting, hollow noise.

“You didn’t do it for me,” Adrien spat at him. “You didn’t do it for mom. You did it for your idea of us, some… some fictional version of us that only exists in your head.” He shook his head. “Do you really think mom would have ever wanted you to terrorize Paris for her? Do you think she wanted to spend her last days of life stretched thin in stasis? What the hell would make you think I’d want a supervillain instead of a father?”

Gabriel didn’t have a response to that either and felt his legs give out underneath him as he collapsed onto his hard prison bed. He barely registered the flash of green light as his son - who he realized with dawning horror he had tried to kill many times in the past ten years - left him.

He finally recognized the unfamiliar emotion he was feeling.

Guilt.

\-------------------------------

Marinette took a big sip of her best red wine as her phone rang. She knew they were out of their league with this one, but she knew exactly who to call for help. It was a big enough story to entice her, but if she wanted this to work, she needed to be as honest as possible.

A voice answered on the other end. “Hey, M. What’s up?”

The time for hesitation was over. “Alya, I hope you’ve got a lot of time to spare.”

“For my best friend? I’ve got all the time in the world.”

“Good.” Marinette took a deep, fortifying breath. “I’m Ladybug, and I need your help.”


	30. Prey/Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette, worried for Chat Noir, heads out into the city to find him. What she doesn't count on is something finding her...

The call ended and Marinette carefully set her phone on the couch beside her. Leaning back, she closed her eyes and tried to make herself relax. The conversation with Alya had gone on for much longer than she had intended it to and all she wanted was to lay down with Adrien and pretend everything was normal for a little while. He still wasn’t back though which was weird since he’d been gone for… she cracked open an eye to peer at the clock, only for her eyes to fly open when she noticed it was two hours into the new day. 

Had she really been on the phone for that long? Or had the rest of the night simply dragged out for that long? Just earlier that night, they’d been preparing to go to a banquet in their honor. Now that felt like a lifetime ago. It was strange how quickly things change.

“Tikki?” Her kwami emerged from where she had cocooned herself in blankets. “He’s been gone way too long. I think it’s time we looked for Chat Noir.”

She nodded. “I’m behind you one hundred percent!” Her enthusiasm waned a little as she added, “I have a bad feeling and I’d feel better if you two were together, just in case.”

Sounds ominous, but how much worse could things get? “Tikki, spots on!”

Almost immediately, she collapsed to the ground from the weight of voices and visions. “Spots off, spots off!” 

The power of Ladybug left her and everything slowly faded away, like a scream turning to an echo. She blinked rapidly to clear her vision and focused, using the same techniques she’d gained that night. It was faint - probably because of distance - but there was no question the same sort of dark energy she’d felt before. She groaned. Was it too much to ask for this night to just end already?

Belatedly, she realized Tikki had been talking. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I said, what are you going to do now? I don’t think we can be Ladybug for very long, and Chat Noir probably isn’t aware of the danger.”

“Then we’ll have to find him the old fashioned way.” Marinette threw off her pajamas and rushed to put on street clothes. One purse filled with cookies later and she was out in Paris. 

\---------------------------------------------

Adrien rubbed at his eyes as he took a rare break. The confrontation with his father had been deeply satisfying, but for some reason the anger he felt hadn’t gone away yet. Knowing he wouldn’t be any help to Marinette in this state of mind kept him from going home, but he was starting to get too tired to keep running. No doubt Plagg was getting exhausted too. Despite their frequent training over the years, Plagg was at his heart a lazy glutton. He wasn’t well suited for these extended periods of transformations.

All other thoughts were put aside when he heard a scream in the night. He was on the move immediately, searching for where it had come from. The scene he came upon sent a bolt of panic through his heart.

In a dead end alley, Marinette was desperately tossing whatever she could get her hands on at a creature that looked like a feline version of a werewolf. It’s fur was a stark white, and Adrien could see the scratches its claws left in the stone of the alley floor as it dragged its long arms along. In the small space, the feral growling echoed and overlapped with itself. It raised one arm with a snarl, galvanizing Adrien into action.

It began to turn around, but Adrien was already swinging his baton. Emerald green eyes set against the monstrous visage of the beast shook him to his core, but he got his bearings quickly. They began a dance of Adrien avoiding a swipe and his baton connecting against it. Unfortunately, the werecat’s fury only seemed to grow with every hit that Adrien landed against it and before long, it was on the offensive. One backhanded strike slammed Adrien against the wall and pinned him there while the other claw was raised to rake him.

Before the beast could deliver the blow, a trash can was slammed onto its head. When the beast dropped him, Adrien beat against it with his baton, stunning it. Marinette, who had positioned herself behind the monster, motioned wildly at Adrien to get away from it. Taking her cue, he scooped her up onto his back and began running once she had a hold on him.

“My lady! What are you doing out this late?”

“Looking for you,” she spoke into his ear over the wind. “Another shard got corrupted, I think. We need to purify it before we can stop Chat Blanc.”

He blinked in confusion. “Chat Blanc…? Wait, you don’t think _I_ made that thing, do you?”

He could feel the sarcasm in her voice as she replied, “No, of course not. I mean, it’s only a cat-themed rage monster that got more powerful the more fiercely you fought it. Just a coincidence, right?”

Despite the circumstances, he chuckled. “Okay, okay, fair enough. Any idea where it might be?”

“Yeah,” she replied and something in her voice wiped the smile from her face. “I’m pretty sure I do. Just do what I say and I’ll get us there. Can you do that for me, kitty?”

“For my favorite civilian? Always.”

\---------------------------------

If it were any other situation, Marinette might have taken a moment to pause or acknowledge the tumultuous emotions that were stirred up at being in the same place that Hawkmoth had taken her months ago. The place that had put her life on a wildly different course - the reveal, the defeat of her arch enemy, the breaking of the peacock miraculous. But with the physical embodiment of Adrien’s anger no doubt bearing down on the both of them, she didn’t have the luxury of reflection right now. 

She leapt off of Chat Noir’s back, ignoring the brief moment of vertigo from all the negative energy. “Come on! We need to find it before Chat Blanc shows up!”

“You don’t need to tell me twice.” 

Chat Noir bolted off to the opposite end of the storage building. Since they’d been here last, crates and barrels and various tools had started to fill the still mostly empty space. While there was still plenty of room to move around in, there was also plenty of places to hide small magical objects in. As she violently tossed things around, she couldn’t help but wonder how they had gotten spread out like this. Was it simply random chance that the shard ended up in a place that was steeped in negative emotions? Had Nathalie placed it here, knowing it could cause more harm to them? Or did the shard seek out these sorts of places, drawn to power it could work with?

There was so much she didn’t understand about the miraculous, even after using the most powerful one for a decade. 

The door came down with a crash and a blood curdling roar. As her head whipped in that direction, she saw Chat Noir rush up to meet Chat Blanc. He shouted over his shoulder.

“Keep looking! Finding the shard is the only way we’re going to beat this thing!”

Her searching became more frantic as the sounds of battle echoed strangely in the large space. Roars and battle cries and puns and cries of pain blended around her as she fought to maintain clarity in this storm. Through it all, she didn’t dare look behind her, terrified of what she might see. After what felt like an eternity, she found it - a blackened shard that practically warped and darkened the air around it, as if it were a weight upon the fabric of reality. 

She took a deep breath. “Tikki, spots on!”

Once again, the visions came back in full force and for a brief moment she was nearly swept aside by the tidal wave that slammed into her senses. But she stayed standing, an inner fire burning bright against the encroaching darkness. Removing her yoyo from her side, she went through the process of cleansing the corrupt shard.

“I release you from evil!” She captured the shard in her yoyo, the energy evaporating before the power of the ladybug miraculous. The warehouse was silent as she caught the shard before it hit the ground. It was back to its usual teal color, but she didn’t inspect it for long before she ran over to Chat Noir’s side.

He seemed bruised and his breathing wasn’t coming as easy as she would like, but he was standing and smiling at her. Unable to contain herself, she ran up and threw her arms around him. 

“Good job, lovebug.”

“You too, kitty.” She settled her chin on his chest as she looked up at him with all the love in the world. “Almost ready to go home?”

“Yeah. Do your thing and we can head out.”

After calling for the lucky charm and miraculous cure, Chat Noir was looking better - not at his best, but definitely better. His arm rested over her shoulders and she leaned into the embrace as they walked out of the building. 

“So I suppose this is our life now?” 

Marinette giggled. “I guess so. Never a dull moment, huh?”

“No, never.” He gave her a squeeze. “But there is no one I’d rather have by my side.”

“You’re not half bad yourself.” She yawned and noticed the skies that were already beginning to lighten up ever so slightly. “Let’s go home. I feel like I could sleep for years.”

Chat Noir grinned. “You always have the best plans.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just one more chapter left, friends! I'm planning on getting it done tomorrow, but if not then I'll probably have it done on Monday. We're almost there!


	31. Supernatural Creatures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes settle into their new routine, eyes firmly fixed on the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: This prompt is what inspired me to include the more magical elements of this story and delve more into the peacock miraculous - without this prompt, Rekindle probably would have turned out radically different!
> 
> I will be participating in Ladynoir July, so keep an eye out for a new story from me on Monday!

_**One year later...** _

“How is the latest article going?” Marinette directed her question across the cafe table to her long standing best friend. 

It wasn’t very often that the four of them got to meet together, but it had gotten better once Alya and Nino had moved back to Paris. The patrols were nice but that was rarely more than two of them at a time. These weekly coffee double dates weren’t always easy to attend, especially with how busy their schedules were these days. But after so much time lost, they found a way to make it work. 

“Pretty good, M. Just need some editing before I turn it in. Care to lend a hand?” She passed a USB towards Marinette with a smirk. Marinette slipped it in her purse, knowing that it was sure to have more than just the standard news articles on it if she was getting it this way. 

At Marinette’s side, Adrien grinned. “I take it you’re high in demand these days?”

“Lots of places are looking to hire the freelancer that did the expose on the mayor.” Alya’s grin became predatory. “After all, anyone that can uproot the rich and powerful of Paris is someone you want on your side.” 

“I hear Alya isn’t the only one that’s doing good, dude.” Nino said between sips of his coffee. “A little dude told me you two have something to tell us.”

Adrien and Marinette exchanged a look. They knew letting all their kwamis mingle would end up biting them in the butt. The only question was, which of their kwamis did the tattling? Was it Tikki, the gossip, or Plagg, the mischief-maker? 

“Well, if the cat’s already out of the bag…” Adrien shrugged and nodded at her. 

Reaching into her purse, Marinette slipped on her engagement ring and held it out for their friends to see. They leaned forward and marveled at the relatively plain but beautiful ring. Not that Adrien hadn’t _wanted_ to give her something much more ornate, of course, but he knew her well enough to know what she truly wanted.

Crossing her arms, Alya snorted. “It’s about time you two dorks got married. I’ve only been shipping this since we were fourteen, girl!” 

“Nice, dudes!” Nino grinned and leaned forward onto the table. “So when’s the wedding and, more importantly, the honeymoon?” He waggled his arms suggestively at Adrien, prompting his wife to smack his arm. 

“Leave my innocent babies alone.” She looked at them out of the corner of her eye. “But seriously, when is the wedding?”

“We’re not sure yet, honestly.” Adrien shrugged. “It’s been a lot of work just getting sales rolling and wiggling our way into the big shows. Although we’ve had it easier than most, though, since my beautiful fiancee has been preparing for this since before we’d even met.” He planted a kiss on the top of her head. 

“Don’t sell yourself short, hot stuff,” Marinette said as she looked up at him. “You’ve been a godsend, and not just because you know the ins and outs of these things. You’ve kept me going even after I felt burnt out.” She leaned forward for a kiss, but Alya cleared her throat. “Oh fine. Anyway, we can’t really plan a wedding yet, not when we’re in the process of building a property for the Dupain-Cheng fashion house and hiring staff. And obviously we can’t just leave the moment we finish all that…”

“Yeah, yeah, busy busy, I get it, M.” Alya waved her hand impatiently. “You just better not elope on us or else me and Sabine are going to have to hunt you down. I didn’t endure all your mutual pining for over ten years just to get robbed at the last minute.”

Marinette giggled. “You don’t have to worry about that. Adrien has his heart set on a nice wedding, especially since I won’t let him splurge on a fancy ring.”

“Well, how else can I tell all of Paris that I love her?”

They all laughed, but as they took a few moments of companionable silence, Alya frowned. “Wait, the Dupain-Cheng fashion house? How is that going to work if you’re getting married?” She turned to Marinette. “Are you going to be keeping your last name?”

Before she could reply, Adrien nodded. “Yep! And I’ll be taking hers. Too much baggage with the Agreste name, you know?” He took a sip of his coffee. “All the more reason to get married sooner than later.” Silence reigned again, this one more introspective as everyone briefly remembered Hawkmoth’s long reign of terror and how it still touched their lives today. 

Nino’s eyes widened and he scrambled to pick up his things. “Shoot, that reminds me. I’ve got training with old man Fu today.”

“Has he finally taught you any secret Guardian techniques yet? Anything you might be willing to pass off to a friend?” Adrien blinked innocently at him, laying on the charm thick.

“This isn’t one of your cheesy animes, dude. It’s mostly just recipes and taking care of old books.” Marinette heard him whisper in Adrien’s ear as he passed, “But if I find anything like that, you’re first on my list.”

“Thanks, man.” Adrien fist bumped his old friend and Nino left them alone.

Alya sighed. “I guess I’d better get back to research then. Paris certainly hasn’t gotten any less weird since I’ve gotten back.” They all stood and made their way out of the cafe. 

Adrien dropped his voice to a whisper as they walked down the street. “Have you found any pattern to it, yet?”

“Centerfold, everything I’ve found I just passed to Marinette.” She shrugged. “With all that magic out there, stuff that’s been gone for centuries is coming back. It hasn’t been anything big yet, but… well, maybe all those legends weren’t just legends, you know? Just keep your eyes peeled and I’ll do my best to keep everyone updated.”

They said their goodbyes as Alya got on the bus, leaving just Adrien and Marinette alone. They walked in silence for a while. The crowds thinned around them as they found their way to less populated areas, eventually finding an abandoned alley. There, Adrien bowed deeply to her as he transformed into Chat Noir. He rose with a cocky grin on his face and stepped close to her as he pressed her against the wall. With one finger, he lifted her chin so she was looking up at him.

“What’s a sweet girl like you doing in a place like this?” She snorted and rolled her eyes at his ridiculousness, but there was a smirk on her face nonetheless. “What do you say I take you home with me, princess?” He kissed at her neck and it took all her will to continue pretending it was having no effect on her.

“Hm… I don’t know… Will there be delicious home cooked food there?” 

He chuckled against her. “Give it an hour and there will be. The tastiest Italian pastas you’ve ever had.”

“Sold!” She surprised him by jumping onto him, causing him to scramble to catch her. “Take me away, you alley cat!”

He laughed. “As my lady commands!”

Chat Noir carried her in his arms and she basked in the cool evening air. Even after all this time, it was something that she had never grown tired of. 

\----------------------------

Once they were inside, Adrien dropped his transformation and gently set Marinette on the couch with a kiss. He cupped her face with a smile as he pulled back. 

“Stay there while I make dinner.” 

“Fine, but only because I’m curious about what Alya has found out.” Marinette pulled her laptop out from underneath the living room table, along with the USB from her purse.

Familiar complaints prompted him to shove some of the cheese that he was working with towards his hungry kwami. It was rare that a week went by without finding another shard, but they were handling it well. Four active heroes helped, especially since the need for secrecy among them was over. With Alya’s investigative skills and Marinette’s rapidly improving aura sensing skills, it was almost child’s play to track down the shards before things got out of hand. Add in Nino helping Master Fu with research between recording albums, and they were working like a well oiled machine. 

Thoughts of strategy and duty fell by the wayside as he turned his attention back to the moment. The kitchen was larger than what Adrien had gotten used to working with. Sure, the one in his old house and the manor had probably been even bigger, but it was only at Marinette’s old apartment that he had truly hit his stride, cooking every day for his lovely lady. Sometimes it was a chore, but there was nothing more rewarding than seeing how Marinette’s eyes light up as he set a full plate down in front of her. He’d make dinner every day for the rest of their lives if it meant he got to see that look on her face. 

Their living space was bigger than what they’d moved out of, but with how well the business was doing it was something they could reasonably afford. And that was with money going towards the fashion house - which Marinette still refused to let him use his savings on. He’d just have to make due with being the best model and spokesman for her fledgling brand that he possibly could be. Seeing her dreams come true was the least he could do for her, after everything she had done for him.

The house was nice, spacious enough for their purposes. But who knows? If things kept going the way they were going, maybe they’d need to upgrade again before too long.

Adrien stood in the kitchen and watched the back of her head as she poured over Alya’s hard earned research. A smile came to his face as he remembered all that they had gone through to get here - all the time spent apart, all the pain and sorrow, the twists and turns. It had all been worth it in the end, just to get to this moment. He felt like a fire had been rekindled inside both of them, driving them forward towards a bright future. 

Here and now, they were happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been an absolute pleasure to write this story for you all, and I am endlessly grateful for all the comments you have left here. Whether you were here from the start or got here towards the end, or if you are reading this long after the whole story was posted, I'm happy that you made it to the end with me. Thank you!


End file.
